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7 



Cbautauqua 1ReaC>ind Circle Xitecature 



A SHORT HISTORY 



OF 



MEDIEVAL EUROPE 



V BY 



OLIVER y THATCHER, Ph.D. 

Author o/^^A Sketch of the History of the Apostolic Church' 




MEADVILLE PENNA 

FLOOD AND VINCENT 

€fte (CbautauquarCcnturp "^xzH 

NEW YORK: CINCINNATI: CHICAGO : 

150 Fifth Avenue. 222 W. Fourth St. 57 Washington St 

1897 






Copyright, 1897, 
By Charles Scribner's Sons 



The required books of the C. L. S. C are recotnmended by a Council 
of six. It must, however, be understood that recotnviendation 
docs Jtot involve an approval by the Council^ or by any tnember 
of it, of every principle or doctrine contained in the book recotn- 



mended. By ^^^j^^ 

Maritime i'^ 

SfP 3 1940 



PREFACE 

This ** Short History of Mediaeval Europe" is an 
abridgment of a larger work, *' Europe in the Middle 
Age," prepared by Dr. Ferdinand Schwill and myself, and 
is intended for use as a text-book in High and Prepara- 
tory Schools, as well as for the general reader who wishes, 
in a summary way, to acquaint himself with the progress 
of events and the course of development in Europe during 
the Middle Age (350-1500). 

The teacher and the reader who wish to pursue the sub- 
ject further are referred to the more comprehensive work 
named above, as well as to the following works : 

Adams : Civilization during the Middle Ages, especially in Relation 

to Modern Civilization, 1894. 
Emerton : An Introduction to the Study of the Middle Ages, 1891. 
Emerton : Mediaeval Europe, 1894. 
Bryce : The Holy Roman Empire. 
SoHM : Outlines of Church History. With a Preface by Professor 

II. M. Gwatkin, M.A. 

I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to my pupils, 

Mr. James W. Linn, for substantial aid in the publication 

of the l)ook, and Miss Lina Moxley, for the preparation of 

the index. 

O. J. T. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Introduction i 

I. Europe, its Peoples, and the Chris- 
tian Church 6 

II, The Migrations of the Nations . . 22 

III. The Reaction of the Empire Against 

the Germans 43 

IV. The Franks (481-814) 52 

V. The Dismemberment of the Empire . 68 

VI. Political History of France (887- 

1108) 75 

VII. Germany and its Relation to Italy 

(887-1056) 82 

VIII. England and the Norsemen (802-1070) 95 

IX. The Normans in Italy no 

X. Feudalism 114 

XL The Growth of the Papacy ... 127 

XII. The Struggle Between the Papacy 

and the Empire (1056-1254) . . . 139 

xiii. monasticism 176 

XIV. Mohammed, Mohammedanism, and the 

Crusades 1S5 

V 



vi Contents 



CHAPTER PAGE 

XV. The Development of the Cities, more 

Especially in France 212 

XVI. Italy to the Invasion of Charles 

VIII. (1494) 223 

XVII. France (i 108-1494) ; England (1070- 

1485) 229 

XVIII. The Lesser Countries of Europe to 

1500 253 

XIX. Germany (i 254-1493) 261 

XX. The Papacy (1250-1450) 269 

XXI. The Italian Renaissance 274 



A SHORT HISTORY 



OF 



MEDIEVAL EUROPE 



A SHORT HISTORY 

OF 

MEDI/EVAL EUROPE 



IXTRODUCTIOX 

The whole course of history is very conveniently divided 
into three periods — the Ancient, the Mediieval. and the 
Modern. Generally, fixed dates have been assigned for 
the beginning and end of each of these. They have then 
been further divided and subdivided, and each division has 
received a particular name. While this has been more or 
less convenient and justifiable, the divisions have often 
been treated so mechanically as to make a totally wrong 
impression, especially on the minds of students who are just 
beginning the study ; for if there is anything that is firmly 
held by all good historians to-day, it is the continuity of 
history. There are no real breaks in its course. Every The cootiimity 
age is a preparation for, and an introduction to, the next. 
One period grows into another so gradually and naturally 
that the people who live in the time of transition are often 
utterly unconscious of the fact that a new period is begin- 
ning. Certain events may well be said to be epoch-making, 
but in spite of that their full effect is not felt at once. 
They slowly modify the existing order of things, and the 
old is gradually displaced by the new. The world is never 
actually revolutionized in a day. 

It is not wrong to separate histor)- into such periods, for 



of History. 



A Short History of Mcdiceval Europe 



But divisions 
are convenient 
andjustifiable. 



Limits of the 
period. 



Europe 350 
A.D. , com- 
pared witli Eu- 
rope 1500 A.D. 



different interests prevail at different times, and, therefore, 
one period may have a very different character from that 
of another. But in making all such divisions two things 
should be carefully guarded against : fixed boundaries should 
not be assigned to them, and they should not be treated as if 
their predominant interest were their only interest. No one 
interest can absorb the whole life of a period. For several 
centuries the life of Europe has been too complex to admit 
of its being adequately treated from only one point of view. 

The terms '' Mediaeval " and " Middle Age " have been 
used because of their convenience. That which brought 
about the great change in Europe was the invasions of the 
Barbarians, and these began on a grand scale in the fourth 
century. The end of the period is not perhaps so easily 
determined, but the period from 1450 to 1550 is marked 
by such movements as the great religious revolution, which 
involved all western Europe and was productive of many 
changes, the growth of absolutism in Europe, the changes in 
the practical government of many of the countries, the birth 
of political science, the multiplication of international re- 
lations, and the extension of industry and commerce, so 
that we may safely say that the Middle Age should end 
somewhere about that time. At any rate, a convenient 
place may there be found where one may stop and mark 
the failing of old, and the appearance of new, tendencies 
and characteristics. 

A comparison of the map of Europe in the fourth century 
of our era with that of the same country in the sixteenth 
century will give the best idea of the changes that took 
place there during the Middle Age. Such a comparison 
would suggest that all these changes could be grouped under 
four heads, namely, those in the political system, in lan- 
guage, in religion, and in civilization. 

The first map would show but two grand political divis- 



Introduction 



ions, the Roman Empire and the Barbarians. On the 
second, the Barbarians have ahiiost disappeared, and the Evident 
Empire, while it has a nominal existence, is not at all t^^n"^suggeS-" 
what it was. In its stead and in the place of the Barba- ^^ thereby, 
rians, there are many separate and independent states and 
different nations. One asks instinctively. What has be- 
come of the Empire ? Where are the Barbarians ? How 
did these new states arise ? What is the origin of these new 
nationalities ? 

The linguistic changes suggested by the maps are quite 
as striking. Latin and Greek were the only languages in 
existence in Europe in the earlier time. The rude dialects 
of the Barbarians were not regarded as languages, and were 
unfit for literary purposes. In the sixteenth century Greek 
was spoken in a limited territory, and Latin had become 
the language of the educated only, while the barbarian 
tongues had been developed into literary languages. 

Religiously, the changes are sweeping. At the beginning 
of the fourth century Europe was still prevailingly heathen. 
Christianity was widely spread, but its adherents were 
largely in the minority. In the sixteenth century, how- 
ever, heathenism was nominally, at least, almost destroyed 
in Europe. In its stead we have Christianity in two great 
types, the Roman Catholic and the Greek, while a third 
new type, to be known as Protestantism, is about to be 
produced. Besides Christianity we find a part of Europe 
under the domination of Mohammedanism. How were 
the Barbarians of Europe Christianized? we ask. How 
were the different types of Christianity produced ? What 
separated the Greek from the Latin Church ? What was the 
origin of Mohammedanism ? What are its tenets and char- 
acter? How did it spread, and what has been its history? 
What influence has it had on Europe ? And what have been 
the relations between Christianity and Mohammedanism ? 



4 A SJiort History of Mediceval Europe 

The changes in civiHzation are also radical. Territorially 
there has been great progress. Civilization has passed far 
beyond the Rhine and the Danube, and there are already 
indications that its centre is soon to be changed from the 
south to the north. Italy, Spain, and southern France 
were still in advance in the sixteenth century ; but England, 
northern France, and Germany were showing the charac- 
teristics which should eventually enable them to assume the 
leadership in art, science, literature, manufactures, and in 
nearly all that goes to make up the highest and best civil- 
ization. They were to furnish the ideas that shall rule the 
world. Here, too, questions arise. What did the rest of 
Europe receive from Greece and Rome? How was this 
inheritance transmitted ? How has it been increased and 
modified ? How were the Barbarians influenced by the art, 
literature, architecture, law, customs, modes of thought, 
and life of the Greeks and Romans ? What new ideas and 
fresh impulses have been given by the various barbarian 
peoples that have successively been brought in as factors in 
the progress and development of Europe ? 

The Middle Age is the birth-period of the modern states 
of Europe. We shall study the successive periods of decay 
General men- and revival in the Empire; its ineffectual efforts to carry 
lant topiS!^°^' ^^ ^^ woxY of Rome in destroying the sense of difference 
in race, and to make all Europe one people ; and its bitter 
Empire. Struggle with its new rival, the Papacy, which ended prac- 

Papacy. tically in the destruction of both. We shall follow the 

Nations and Barbarians in their migrations and invasions, and watch 
them as they form new states and slowly learn of Rome the 
elements of civilization. We shall see them come to na- 
tional self-consciousness, exhibiting all the signs of a proud 
sense of nationality, gradually but stubbornly resisting in- 
terference of both Emperor and Pope in their affairs, and, 
finally, throwing off all allegiance to both, becoming fully 



states. 



Introduction 



5 



independent and acknowledging their responsibility to no 
power outside of themselves. Along with this national 
differentiation goes the development of the barbarian dia- 
lects into vigorous languages, each characteristic of the 
people to which it belongs. 

We shall study the spread of Christianity, its ideals and 
institutions, Monasticism and the Papacy. The monks of 
the west played a most important part in Christianizing 
and civilizing the peoples of Europe, and the Bishops of 
Rome came to look upon themselves as the successors, not 
only of Peter, but also of the Caesars, claiming all power, 
both spiritual and temporal. The Church is, therefore, a The Church, 
prominent factor in the history of the Middle Age. 

Mohammedanism was for some time a formidable opponent 
of Christianity even in Europe. It set for itself the task of con- 
quering the world. It made many determined efforts to es- Mohamme- 
tabhsh itself firmly in Europe. The Eastern Question was an ^"^^"^• 
old one, even in the Middle Age, and the invasions of the 
Mohammedans into Europe and the counter-invasions of the 
Christians (the Crusades) are all so many episodes in its history. 

By invading and settling in the Empire the Barbarians came 
under the schooling of the Romans. They destroyed much, 
but they also learned much. The elements of the Graeco-Ro- Progress in 
man civilization were preserved ; its art, laws, and ideas were 
slowly modified and adopted by the invading peoples. We 
shall see how this rich legacy was preserved and gradually 
made the property of all the peoples of Europe, and we shall 
study the progress which they have made in civilization. 

These are some of the problems with which the history 
of the Middle Age is concerned; they will be treated in 
their appropriate places. We shall first take a kind of in- 
ventory of their factors, and these are Europe (the land 
itself in its physical and climatic features), its peoples, and 
the Christian Church. 



CHAPTER I 



EUROPE, ITS PEOPLES, AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 



The influence 
of mountain 
ranges. 



I. EUROPE. The general contour of Europe has greatly influenced its 
history. It is, therefore, necessary to study its mountain sys- 
tems, its plains, its coast and river systems, and its climate. 

On the east, and coinciding in general with the boun- 
dary between Asia and Europe, are the Ural Mountains. 
They, with the Caucasus Range between the Black and 
Caspian Seas, form a barrier to easy communication be- 
tween the east and the west, and so have forced travel and 
commerce, as well as invading peoples and armies, to fol- 
low certain well-defined routes. The Alps and the Pyre- 
nees have served much the same purpose in the south. They 
have prevented the fusion of the peoples to the north with 
those to the south, and have made futile all the many at- 
tempts to bring and keep them under one government. 
They have played important parts in the differentiation, 
spread, and development of the various nations about them. 
Their passes being few and difficult, they have hindered 
intercourse and have prevented interference, and so each 
people has been left more exclusively to itself to work out 
its own character and destiny. 

Even in the small physical divisions of Europe, moun- 
tains have done much to isolate and divide those whom 
everything else has sought to fuse and unite. They have 
helped perpetuate tribal and racial differences in Scandi- 
navia, in Germany, in Austria, and especially in the Balkan 
Peninsula, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. There can be no 

6 



Europe and the Christian Church 7 

doubt that the mountains of these countries still make the 
problems of their respective governments more difficult. 
They have been constant and efficient barriers to the for- 
mation of extensive states and governments in western 
Europe. 

On the other hand, the great central plains offer every The plains of 
opportunity for homogeneous development and for the for- '"^°P^- 
mation of governments with extensive sway. Being adapted 
to the occupation of grazing, agriculture, and similar pur- 
suits, they determined the earliest occupations of the peo- 
ple. So long as the number of inhabitants was small, 
their great extent favored the continued separation of the 
nomadic tribes that wandered over them ; and with in- 
creasing population the peoples were more easily brought 
together and subjected to the influence of the same ideas, 
whether political, social, or religious. 

Turning to the study of its coast we note that Europe it- 
self is almost a peninsula, and is besides deeply indented 
by arms of the sea, so that it has a large extent of coast line. Coast line and 
Its two great inland seas offer, because of their calmness, 
excellent opportunities for the growth of commerce. It is 
not accidental that European commerce developed first, 
and had its chief seats, around the Mediterranean and the 
Baltic. 

As if to facilitate communication, Europe is traversed 
from north to south by many rivers, which in the Middle Rivers. 
Age were the highways of travel and traffic. By a short 
portage the Rhine and the rivers of France are connected 
with each other and with the Rhone and its tributaries ; 
the Rhine, the Main, the Elbe, and the Oder, with the 
Danube ; the Vistula, the Niemen, and the Duna, with the 
Dniester, the Dnieper, the Don, and the Volga. In this 
way nature has done much to promote intercourse in Eu- 
rope. A radically different arrangement of the rivers of 



8 



A Short History of Mcdiceval Europe 



2. THE 
PEOPLES. 

A. THE RO- 
MAN EMPIRE. 



Its extent. 



The change 
from a Repub- 
lic to an Em- 
pire. 



Europe would have affected its history in a corresponding 
way. Especially the districts about the mouths of the riv- 
ers were likely to be hastened in their development because 
of their greater opportunities for commerce and the advan- 
tages to be derived therefrom. The national existence of 
Portugal, Holland, and Belgium is due in some measure to 
the fact that they lie about the mouths of great rivers. 

The climate of a country influences its people in many 
ways. Long and cold winters make the conditions of life 
in the north much more difficult than in the south, where 
nature does almost everything unaided. In this way the 
habits of the people, their dress, social life, and architect- 
ure, public as well as private, are greatly influenced by the 
widely varying climatic conditions that prevail in the vari- 
ous parts of Europe. 

In the third century the Roman Empire extended from 
the Atlantic in the west to the Euphrates in the east ; from 
the Sahara in the south to the Danube, Main, and Rhine 
in the north. Britain also (the modern England) had been 
added to this territory. Since the beginning of the Chris- 
tian Era, the boundaries of the Empire had not been greatly 
enlarged. The task of defending the frontiers rapidly be- 
coming more difficult left successive Emperors little time 
to think of foreign conquests. 

In the year 27 b.c. Octavius usurped the power by con- 
centrating in himself the most important offices, which, up 
to this time, had been elective. He did not change their 
character, for the officers of the Republic, although elected, 
exercised absolute power, delegated to them by the state, 
during their term of office. According to Roman concep- 
tions the power of the state was absolute ; the highest ideal 
of the people was obedience, not liberty. This power the 
Emperor seized and vested in himself, though, in theory, 
it was regarded as simply delegated to him. He had it all — 



Europe and the Christian Chnrch 9 

military, judicial, legislative, executive, financial, and re- 
ligious. The Senate's actual powers were gone. Though 
many forms of the Republic were still observed the Em- 
peror was supreme. He was the state. Disobedience to 
his will was an offence against the majesty of the Roman 
people, and consequently punished with death. He was 
the head of the state religion with the title of Pontifex 
Maximus. He took on a sacred character, being wor- 
shipped while living and receiving the honors of apotheosis 
at his death. Temples and altars were erected to him, sac- 
rifices offered in his name, and a rich ritual developed. An 
offence against his person was sacrilege, and hence a capi- 
tal crime. 

This change in the government was in many respects 
beneficial. The last years of the Republic had been filled 
with wars and seditions. The Emperor restored peace and 
order. He policed the Empire and made it safe. He put 
down brigandage and piracy. He compelled those who 
were over the provinces, to rule justly, and the cities re- 
ceived many favors at his hands. As legislators the earlier The influence 
Emperors made excellent use of their powers, introducing Empero^s^on 
a humane spirit into their laws. Up to this time the law legislation. 
had taken only men into account. Women, children, and 
slaves were almost without its protection. The Emperors 
forbade abortions and the exposure of children, gave wives 
and mothers more protection against the cruelty and ca- 
price of their husbands, and mitigated in many ways the 
hard conditions of slaves. Illegitimate children and those 
of criminals were no longer compelled to share the heavy 
penalties visited upon their parents. The Emperors made 
less use of torture in the examination of witnesses, recog- 
nized the right of the accused to trial, and declared that it 
was worse to punish an innocent person than to let a guilty 
one escape. 



10 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Civilization. 



Religion. 



Comparative 
simplicity of 
the early Em- 
pire. 



The policy of Rome had been to Romanize her subjects. 
She endeavored to Hft them all up to her level by giving 
them her civilization. This work the Emperors prosecuted 
with great zeal and success. In the year 215 a.d. Cara- 
calla issued an edict making all the free inhabitants of the 
Empire citizens of Rome. 

The Republic had made shipwreck of its religious faith. 
Its last days had been godless and atheistic. The Empe- 
rors led and promoted an earnest revival in religion and 
morals, which in the course of the next three centuries 
became general among all classes. Under its influence, 
monotheistic ideas and conceptions became common, being 
supported also by the philosophy of the times. Such ideas 
as the unity of the human race and the brotherhood of 
man were not unknown, for philosophers, such as Seneca 
and Epictetus, taught them. It was a period, therefore, in 
which civilization made great progress and the conception 
of humanity grew broader and higher. 

The Emperor was surrounded by a crowd of people who 
assisted him in the work of governing, but he was at first 
without a ''court." His life was comparatively simple 
and free. During the first three centuries little change 
was made in the administration of the government. The 
cities were left undisturbed in the exercise of their liberties 
and local self-government. The provinces were ruled by 
officers of the Emperor. They represented him, and in his 
name commanded the troops, collected taxes, and adminis- 
tered justice. Many provinces had an annual assembly, or 
parliament, which, however, was in the hands of the Em- 
peror and served him as a part of the machinery for admin- 
istering the affairs of government. 

A fatal mistake was made in that no law of succession 
was established. Theoretically the people of Rome were 
supposed to have the right to elect the Emperor, but prac- 



Europe and the Christian Church il 

tically the army disposed of the imperial crown. Any one 
might aspire to be Emperor. For some time there was ht- 
tle trouble about the succession, but in the third century 
bloody contentions for the possession of the crown arose. 
From 1 80 to 284 a.d. there were over thirty actual Em- 
perors, and more than that number of would-be usurpers. 
By acclamation the soldiers made their favorite general 
Emperor, or sold the crown to the highest bidder. Dio- Diocletian's 
cletian (284-305) endeavored to put an end to this by in- 
creasing the number of Emperors and surrounding each one 
with a court. According to his scheme there were to be An imperial 
two Emperors, one in the east and the other in the west, ushed.^ 
Each of these was to have an assistant called a Caesar. The 
term of office was fixed at twenty years. At the end of this 
period the Emperors were to resign, and the Caesars were 
to take their places as Emperors, and appoint other Caesars 
as their assistants. To render the persons of the Emperors 
still safer, each was to have a court modelled after those of 
the east. 

For the support of these courts large sums of money were 
necessary. Diocletian, .therefore, reformed and extended 
the system of taxation and reduced the government to a Ruinous tax- 
bureaucratic form. In this process he destroyed local lib- 
erty and self-government, and so oppressed the people with 
taxes that the inevitable result was universal bankruptcy. 

The reforms of Diocletian did away with the last traces 
of republican rule. The old titles of the various offices 
which Augustus had vested in himself as Emperor were now Diocletian the 

-, rr., ^ , , ,, ^, ^ founder of the 

omitted. The Senate had no power at all. The Emperor later Empire, 
was ''Lord and God." Not only he, but his house, his 
bedchamber, and his treasury were regarded as sacred. His 
word was law. He was the living law on earth. He was 
the highest judge, and might, if he wished, call before him 
all cases. He was the source of law, judicial authority, 



12 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

and justice. The finances of the Empire were wholly in 
his hands. He assessed all taxes and tolls. 
The Court. The old prsetorian guard was replaced by a guard of the 

palace and a body-guard. The Emperor had a council 
composed of some of his principal officers, which served 
him in all the work of governing. For the private and the 
public service of the Emperor there was a vast crowd of 
employees with the most various titles, arranged in groups, 
each under the control of an officer who was made directly 
responsible to the Emperor. A complete bureaucratic sys- 
tem was developed, which has served as model for more 
than one of the modern governments of Europe. 
The Army be- Under the Emperors the character of the army changed 
barian.^^' rapidly. Although great inducements were offered the 
volunteer it was difficult to keep the ranks of the legions 
full, and it soon became necessary to make drafts by force 
and to accept for military service even slaves, which the 
large land-owners were compelled to furnish in proportion 
to the value of their lands. The difficulties encountered 
by the state in such a method of procedure, and the poor 
quality of the soldiers thus obtained, led to the enrolment 
of Barbarians in ever-increasing numbers. Native troops 
were replaced by mercenaries, who were without patriotism 
and cared only for money. Intrigues, plunderings, revolts, 
and rebellion on the part of the army became frequent, and 
that which was supposed to be the protection of the Em- 
pire became its bane. 
The people di- The inhabitants of the Empire were divided into four 
ciaSes"^^ classes — slaves, plebs, curiales, and senators. Within each 
of these four divisions there were various grades and shades 
of difference. The lot of the slaves was gradually growing 
better. In the country it now became customary to enroll 
Slaves. them, thus attaching them to the soil, from which they 

could not be separated, and with which they were bought 



Europe and the Christian Chnrch 13 

and sold. Masters were forbidden to kill their slaves or to 
separate a slave from his wife and children. 

To the class of plebs belonged all the free common people, piebs. 
whether small freeholders, tradesmen, laborers, or artisans. 
The freeholders were diminishing in numbers. Their lands 
were consumed by the taxes and they themselves either be- 
came serfs or ran away to the towns. The majority of the 
inhabitants of the cities and towns were free, but had no 
political rights. 

All who possessed twenty-five acres of land, or its equiv- 
alent, were regarded as '' curiales." On these fell the bur- Curiales. 
dens of ofiftce-holding and the taxes, for the collection of 
which they were made responsible. 

The ranks of the senatorial class were constantly increasing 
by the addition of all those who for any reason received the 
title of senator or who were appointed by the Emperor to 
one of the high offices. The honor was hereditary. The Senators, 
senators were the richest people of the Empire, having in 
their possession the most of the soil. As they enjoyed ex- 
ceptional privileges and immunities, the lot of the curiales 
was made more grievous. 

For the support of his army, his court, and the great 
number of clerks made necessary by the bureaucratic form 
of government, the Emperor had to have immense sums of 
money, for the purpose of raising which many kinds of taxes Taxes, 
were introduced. Taxes were levied on both lands and per- 
sons; on all sorts of manufacturing industries; on heirs, 
when they came into possession of their estates ; on slaves 
when set free ; and on the amount of the sales made by 
merchants. Tolls were collected on the highways and at 
bridges, and duties at the city gates and in the harbors. 
Besides direct taxes, there were many kinds of special taxes, 
burdens, and services, such as food, clothing, and quarters 
for the army ; horses and wagons for the imperial use when- 



14 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Effects on the 
curiales. 



B. THE 
KELTS. 



Tribal govern- 
ment. 



ever demanded; and repairing of the roads, bridges, and 
temples. Most oppressive of all, perhaps, was the dis- 
honesty of the officers, who often exacted far more than even 
the very high sums which the Emperor required. 

It was impossible that this should not bankrupt the Em- 
pire. The cities suffered most quickly. As the senatorial 
class, the army, professors of rhetoric, and the clergy were 
largely freed from taxation, the whole burden fell on the 
curiales, who became oppressors in order to collect the vast 
sums required of them. Finally, when they were exhaust- 
ed, they attempted in every way to escape from their class. 
Some of them succeeded in rising into the senatorial ranks; 
many of them deserted their lands and became slaves, or en- 
tered the army or the Church. The Emperors tried to pre- 
vent this, and often seized the curial who had run away and 
compelled him to take up his old burden again. The curial 
was forbidden by law to try to change his position, but in 
spite of this many of them surrendered their lands to some 
rich neighbor and received them back on condition of the 
payment of certain taxes, and the rendering of certain ser- 
vices. This was a form of land tenure and social relation 
very similar to that common in feudalism of a later day. 

In the fourth century a.d. the Kelts occupied Gaul (mod- 
ern France) and the islands of Great Britain. Four or five 
hundred years before Christ, they had extended as far east 
as the Weser in the north, and occupied much territory in 
the centre of Europe. The Kelts were never all united in 
one great state, but existed in separate tribes. Each tribe 
formed a state and was governed by an aristocracy. The 
people had no part in the government, but were treated by 
the ruling class as slaves. The nobility was divided into 
two classes, the religious and the secular. The religious 
nobility were the Druids, a caste of priests who controlled 
all sacrifices, both public and private, and who were also 



Europe and the Christian Church 15 

judges and final authorities in all other matters. Their 
word was law, and whoever refused them obedience was 
put under their ban, which had almost exactly the same 
meaning as the Papal ban a few centuries later. They had 
many gods, to whom they offered human sacrifices. ^ 

The Kelts had large, strong, and beautiful bodies, as may 
be seen from the famous statue in Rome, *'The Dying 
Gaul " (formerly known as the '' Dying Gladiator "). They 
were brave, dashing warriors, fond of music, especially of 
the shrill martial kind, with which they went into battle. 
They were easily moved by fine speech and had a love for Keltic charac- 
poetry. Their language was well developed and capable *^^^^^^^^- 
of expressing a wide range of thought and emotion. They 
loved bright and gay colors, and were noted for the Hveli- 
ness rather than for the persistency of their feelings and 
emotions. They were restless, sprightly, full of activity, and 
capable of the greatest enthusiasm for, and devotion to, a 
popular leader, but they were fickle and unreliable if their 
ardor was once quenched by disaster. At the beginning of 
our period the Kelts who occupied Gaul and Britain (the 
present England) were thoroughly Romanized. To a great 
extent they had forgotten their language and spoke Latin. 
Many cities had sprung up which were well supplied with 
temples, baths, and theatres, and were in all respects thor- 
oughly Roman. But the Kelts of Ireland, Wales, and Scot- 
land were still barbarian, and hostile to Rome. 

At the beginning of our period the Germans occupied c. the ger- 
Scandinavia, and nearly all the land between the Rhine and ^^^^' 
the Vistula, and the Baltic and the Danube. Since the 
times of Caesar and Tacitus many changes had taken place 
among them. Some of them had changed their location. Their location. 
new groups had been formed, and they were known by new 

* Caesar, B. G,, vi., 11-19, gives a good description of the Kelts. 



1 6 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Divisions. 



Their govern- 
ment. 



names. The Goths had left the Vistula and were now spread 
over a great stretch of territory to the north of the Black 
Sea and the lower Danube. Other tribes were moving or 
spreading out in the same direction. Great masses of Ger- 
mans and other peoples were crowded together along the 
whole northern frontier of the Empire, and the danger of a 
barbarian invasion was rapidly growing greater. 

Tacitus ("Germania," ii.) says that the Germans were 
divided into three great branches : the Ingaevones, who 
lived nearest the ocean ; the Hermiones, who lived in the 
*' middle; " and the Istsevones, who included all the rest. 
These three names had now been replaced by others, such 
as Franks, Suevi, and Saxons. Neither these nations nor 
those mentioned by Tacitus actually included all the Ger- 
mans, forming rather the great division which may be called 
the West Germans. Besides these there were those of the 
north, afterward known as the Danes, Norwegians, and 
Swedes, and those of the east, the Goths, Vandals, and 
others. 

In their government they were democratic. They had 
a well-defined system of local self-government. There 
were three political divisions : the whole tribe, or nation ; 
the Gau, or county (in England this was called the hun- 
dred) ; and the village. All matters that concerned only 
the village were discussed and settled by all the freemen of 
the village in a public meeting. Likewise the affairs of the 
Gau were administered by the freemen of the Gau, and 
matters that concerned the whole nation were decided by 
an assembly of all the freemen of the tribe. In social rank, 
there were three classes — nobles, freemen, and slaves. The 
nobles had certain advantages, but in the assemblies the 
vote of a freeman equalled that of a nobleman. 

It was customary among the Germans for the young men 
to attach themselves to some man of tried courage and 



Europe and the Christian CJmrch \*j 

military ability (the comitatus or Gefolge), with whom Gefolge. 
they lived and whom they accompanied on all his expedi- 
tions. Such warrior chiefs were proud of having a large 
number of young men about them, for it added to their 
dignity and increased their power in many ways. The re- 
lation between a leader and a follower was entirely volun- 
tary, and consequently honorable to both. It might be 
terminated whenever either party failed in his duties. 

The religion of the Germans was a kind of nature wor- Religion and 
ship, connected with various objects, such as groves, trees, ^^^^"^^ '°"^* 
and caves, and with natural phenomena. They had no priest 
caste. They lived by cattle -raising, agriculture, and hunt- 
ing. The labor was performed principally by slaves and 
women. It was characteristic of them that they were un- 
willing to live in compactly built towns. Their houses 
were generally some distance apart, forming a straggling 
village. The Romans were impressed with the great size 
and power of their bodies, the ruddiness of their faces, and 
the light color of their hair. 

They had some very prominent faults, such as a too great Their quali- 
love of war, of the cup, and of the dice. They became so 
infatuated with gambling that, after losing all their property, 
they staked their wives and children, and if these were lost, 
they risked even their own liberty. The Germans boasted 
of their faithfulness to every obligation. So true were they 
to their word that if they lost their freedom in gambling 
they willingly yielded to their new master, and permitted 
themselves to be reduced to the position of slaves. 

The Slavs occupied a large belt of territory east of the d. the slavs. 
Germans, and extended far into Russia. As the Germans 
withdrew to the west and south, the Slavs followed them 
and took possession of the land thus vacated. In this way 
they finally came as far west as the Elbe, and may be said Their location. 
to have held nearly all of the territory from the Elbe to the 



1 8 A SJiort History of MedicBval Europe 



Government. 



Character. 



E, THE LETTS. 



F. THE URAL- 
ALTAIC 
PEOPLES. 



Dnieper. A large part of what is now Prussia, Saxony, and 
Bohemia became wholly Slavic. 

The Slavs, as well as the Kelts and Germans, were broken 
up into many tribes having no political connection with each 
other. They seem to have had a patriarchal form of gov- 
ernment. At any rate, great reverence was shown the old 
men of the tribe, who, by virtue of their age, had a con- 
trolling voice in the management of affairs. At first the 
Slavs probably had no nobility. They elected their leaders 
in war, and so strong was the democratic spirit among them 
that they were never able to produce a royal line. 

Their religion was a low form of idolatry. They had 
priests, who were consulted on all matters, both political 
and religious. Though they had powerful frames and im- 
pressed the Romans with their size, they were tame and 
unwarlike, and have never been conquerors. Their loca- 
tion was favorable to the occupations of cattle-raising and 
agriculture. They did not possess a strong national feeling, 
but were easily assimilated by other peoples. Large num- 
bers of them were Germanized from the ninth century on. 

In the ninth century still another Indo-European people 
came into history, the Letts, closely related to the Slavs, 
and whom we meet on the shore of the Baltic, from the Vis- 
tula to some distance beyond the Nieman. They were di- 
vided into Lithuanians and Prussians. It is curious to note 
that the name of this non-German people (the Prussians) 
has, in the process of time, come to be applied to the lead- 
ing German state of to-day. 

Besides these Indo-European peoples which we have just 
discussed there were others, who are usually called Ural- 
Altaic or Finnic Turkish tribes. ^' Turanian " is also ap- 
plied to them. They were to be found in northern Scan- 
dinavia and in the northern, northwestern, and eastern 
parts of Russia. They were the Finns, the Lapps, the Es- 



Europe and the Christian Chnrch 19 

thonians, the Livonians, the Ugrians, the Tchuds, the Per- 
mians, the Magyars, the Huns, and many others. They 
were related to the Turkish Mongols. During the Middle 
Age, at least, they in no way advanced the interests of 
civilization, but rather played the part of a scourge — de- 
stroyers rather than builders. 

The division followed above is linguistic. Philologists 
first discovered the similarity between the languages of the 
Greeks, the Romans, the Kelts, the Germans, the Slavs, 
the Letts, the Persians, and the ancient inhabitants of India, 
and on the basis of these resemblances, classed these peo- 
ples together as one great race. It was inferred that because 
their languages were akin the people themselves must have 
been of the same original stock. The modern science of 
Anthropology or Ethnology does not recognize the validity Basis of above 
of such an argument, but declares that these peoples do not phi^oiogkX 
belong to the same race, although their languages are re- not recognized 
lated. Ethnologists now use other tests, prominent among gists, 
which are skull measurements, to discover the racial rela- 
tions of peoples. 

In the fourth century Christianity was well scattered over 3. THE 
the Empire, and there were Christians even among the CHURCH. 
Barbarians. The Church beginning in Palestine as a 
brotherhood, had slowly developed an organization which 
at this time was fairly complete. It was modelling its gov- 
ernment after that of the Roman Empire. Its clergy had 
much of what we might call '^esprit de corps." The 
Christian Church, as a whole, was friendly to the Roman The Church 
state, and desired that it might be preserved and perpetu- state. ^ ^ ^ 
ated. This was due in part to certain commands in their 
sacred writings that they should honor the king and obey 
the powers that be, and in part, also, to the belief that so 
long as the Roman government should remain intact the 
'* Antichrist " would not come. 



20 A Short History of Medmval Europe 



The State hos- 
tile to Chris- 
tianity. 



This friendly feeling of the Church was not reciprocated 
by the state. To the heathen the congregations of the 
Christians seemed to be secret societies, most of which 
were forbidden by the state because of their supposed polit- 
ical character, and Eastern religions were forbidden in the 
western part of the Empire. Christianity also was eastern 
in its origin. To be a Christian, therefore, was to be a 
criminal in the eyes of the law. It was impossible for the 
Christians to perform their duties as citizens, for all such 
duties were connected with idolatrous rites and practices ; 
neither could they sacrifice to the gods or take any part in 
the great religious festivals and celebrations. In an age 
when nearly everything was attributed to the direct agency 
of the gods, it was unavoidable that the Christians, who 
despised the gods, should be blamed for all calamities. 
The result was that the Christians were persecuted and an- 
noyed, more or less, for three hundred years. These per- 
secutions were local, however, until 249 a.d., when Decius 
ordered the first general persecution. Even then the per- 
secution did not extend over the whole Empire. In 303 
A.D. the last great persecution was begun under Diocletian, 
though the responsibility for it is to be laid on his Caesar, 
Galerius. After about eight years of struggle the first edict 
of toleration was published, in April, 311, making Chris- 
tianity a legal religion. 

It was the policy of Constantine to further Christianity. 
In 313 he released the Catholic clergy from many political 
duties which were ordinarily regarded as burdensome. In 
315 he freed the Church from the payment of certain taxes. 
Probably in 316 he made legal the manumission of slaves 
which took place in churches. In 321 churches were 
granted the privilege of receiving legacies. In 323 he for- 
bade the compulsory attendance of Christians at heathen 
worship and celebrations. Up to 323 the coins which he 



Europe and the Christian Church 21 

struck bore the images and inscriptions of various gods ; after 
that time his coins had only allegorical emblems. But, on 
the other hand, Constantine never in any way limited or 
prohibited heathenism. He retained the office and per- 
formed the duties of Pontifex Maximus. In 321 he issued 
an edict commanding that officials should consult the 
Haruspices (soothsayers). After the year 326 he permit- 
ted a temple to be erected to himself, and allowed himself 
to be worshipped. After his death he was enrolled among 
the gods and received the title of Divus. It is evident 
from this that the famed conversion of Constantine was 
political rather than religious. His principal interest was 
centred in the unity of the Church, which he wished to use 
as a tool in the work of governing the Empire. He did 
not make Christianity the state religion ; he merely made 
it a legal religion. 

The Emperors Gratian (375-383) and Theodosius (379- Gratian and 
395) went one step farther and made orthodox Christianity ^^^^^^ chris- 
the only legal religion. They withdrew state support from onivTeial re- 
heathenism and restricted the heathen worship. They also ligion. 
persecuted all heresies, attempting to make citizenship de- 
pend upon orthodoxy. It is evident, therefore, that the 
Christian Church will be one of the most important factors 
in the history of the Middle Age. It might be said that 
the future belonged to the Church and to the Germans. 



CHAPTER II 



THE MIGRATIONS OF THE NATIONS 



The Provin- 
cials without 
patriotism. 



Causes of the 
migrations. 



The Goths on 
the Black Sea. 



Although more numerous than the invaders, the Ro- 
man Provincials were, for various reasons, unable to pre- 
vent these invasions. The frontier of the Empire was so 
extended that the army was no longer able to guard the 
whole of it, even if it had earnestly desired to do so. Hav- 
ing been deprived of a share in the government, the Pro- 
vincials had lost their patriotism and warlike spirit, and no 
longer took an intelligent and enthusiastic interest in the 
affairs of state. They were cringing and spiritless, and in 
personal prowess no match for the Germans. 

The causes of the migrations were often complex. Hun- 
ger, whether caused by the failure of crops, the rapid in- 
crease of population, or the devastations of war, sometimes 
compelled a tribe to seek a better location. The Germans 
knew something of the more favorable conditions of life in 
the south, and coveted the lands and property of the Ro- 
mans. Occasionally a tribe was driven from its home by a 
more powerful invader. 

During the second century of our era the Goths left their 
home on the Vistula, moved slowly to the south, and settled 
in. two groups on the Danube and the Black Sea. These 
groups, from their relative positions, came to be known as 
the East Goths and West Goths. During the next hundred 
years they made frequent invasions into the territory of the 
Empire, sacking many towns in Asia Minor and in the Bal- 
kan Peninsula, and carrying off much booty. In 262 a.d. 



The Migrations of the Nations 23 

they burnt the temple of Artemis (Diana) at Ephesus. 
Several Emperors were compelled to fight them ; Constan- 
tine finally put an end to their incursions, and succeeded 
in establishing peaceful relations with them. Under the 
influence of the Empire they took the first steps in civiliza- 
tion. They had commerce with the Romans, from whom 
they learned a system of weights and measures, and coin- 
age. They became familiar with the Roman modes of life, 
dress, and customs. From Christian prisoners, merchants, 
exiles, and missionaries, they learned something of Chris- 
tianity. A Gothic bishop from the Crimea was present at 
the Council of Nicsea (325). Ulfilas (311-81) was their uifilas. 
most noted missionary. Of Gothic parentage, he spent 
several years at Constantinople, where he became a Chris- 
tian of the Arian type. About 340, having reached the 
canonical age, he was ordained as a missionary bishop to 
the Goths. In order that the Goths might understand the 
Bible when read in the church services, he translated it into 
Gothic, having invented an alphabet for that purpose. 
After laboring with considerable success for a few years 
among the West Goths, he and his followers were perse- 
cuted, and, with the consent of the Emperor, they with- 
drew across the Danube and settled in Moesia. The Chris- 
tianization of the Goths, however, went steadily forward, 
till at the coming of the Huns both the East and the West 
Goths were nominally Christian. 

The Gothic nation had been made up of a large number 
of separate and practically independent tribes (Gaue), each 
of which had its own leader, called Herzog or duke. Grad- 
ually some of these Gau leaders succeeded in uniting under 
themselves several Gaue and so took the title of king. Such 
kings made their appearance in the fourth century among The rise of 
both the East and West Goths, and during the period of '"^^* 
migrations that followed, the kingship was developed among 



24 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

all the German tribes which moved and settled on Roman 
soil. 

The coming of The Hiins entered Europe about 372, and, after conquer- 
ing the Slavs and other peoples whom they encountered, 
attacked the East Goths. Under rival kings the East Goths 
were broken into two great parties, one of which submitted 
to the Huns, while the other retreated toward the lower 
Danube. The West Goths were also divided. One body 
of them, under Athanarich, retreated into Transylvania, 
while the other, numbering about 100,000 persons, under 
Fritigern, obtained permission from the Emperor to cross 
the Danube and settle on Roman soil. They became foe- 
derati of the Empire, retaining their arms, giving hostages, 
and agreeing to furnish a contingent of troops for the army. 
In return, they were to receive land and grain. The Ro- 
man officials so oppressed them that they were reduced to 
poverty, and in order to obtain sufficient food they were 
compelled to part with what was dearest to them, their 
arms, their wives, and their children. Stung to madness 

The West by such treatment the West Goths rose in revolt and rav- 

Goths in the ,, ^ i... /-i-,-, ^,, 

Empire. ^geu the country. One division of the East Goths also 

crossed the Danube and assisted in the work of devastation. 
The Emperor Valens met them near Adrianople (378), but 
his army was routed and he was slain. Finally the Emperors 
Gratian and Theodosius, by wise concessions, pacified 
them, and the East Goths quietly withdrew into Pannonia, 
while the West Goths returned to the territory at first as- 
signed them. At the same time Athanarich was persuaded 
to bring his West Goths from Transylvania and settle in 
the Empire, thus reuniting the West Goths again. 

Till the death of Theodosius the West Goths kept the 
peace. They became discontented, however, because they 
felt that they were losing their nationality and being Ro- 
manized ; their dependent relation to the Empire was also 



TJie Migrations of tJie Nations 25 

galling to them. Accordingly, in the year 395, choosing 
Alaric as their king, they revolted. Alaric was born of one Alaric made 
of their leading families, and, although favored and hon- '"^" 
ored by the Emperor, in his sympathies and ambitions had 
remained true to his people. He cherished the idea of 
national independence and liberty, and wished his people 
to have a home where, without losing their nationality, they 
might develop and make progress in civilization. 

Alaric led his whole people through Thrace and Mace- 
donia into Greece, devastating the country as he went, 
though unable to take the walled towns. The army in the 
west was commanded at this time by a Vandal named Stili- 
cho, a man of the greatest ability. The Emperor was at 
last compelled to summon him to his aid. He overtook 
Alaric near Corinth, by skilful manoeuvering drove him 
into a disadvantageous position, and then offered him an 
honorable peace. A treaty was made between them, by 
the terms of which lUyria was ceded to the West Goths and 
Alaric received the title of duke (398). 

lUyria, however, was no better adapted to the national 
development of the West Goths than were the lands along 
the Danube. Alaric therefore prepared to move again. He 
attempted to make a concerted invasion of Italy with the East Goths 
East Goths of Pannonia under their king, Ratger. Their Goths invade 



movements, however, were not well timed. Ratger reached 
Italy in the year 399, but was defeated and driven back. 
A year later Alaric entered Italy, and after vainly endeav- 
oring to take the Emperor prisoner, was defeated by Stili- 
cho and compelled to withdraw again into Illyria (403). 
Ratger made another unsuccessful attempt to join Alaric in 
Italy but was slain, and his great army destroyed, his sol- 
diers either being killed or taken prisoner and sold into 
slavery. 

These invasions of Ratger and Alaric drew the army from 



Italy. 



26 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Vandals and 
Suevi invade 
Gaul, 406-7. 



Alaric in Nori- 
cum. 



Death of 
Stilicho, 408. 



Alaric sacks 
■Rome, 410. 



the Rhine, leaving that frontier unprotected. The Alani, 
a non-German people, the Vandals, and the Suevi, finding 
nothing to oppose them, crossed the Rhine on the ice dur- 
ing the winter of 406-7 and quickly overran the territory 
of Gaul, taking and sacking many towns. In 409 their ad- 
vance guard had reached the Pyrenees and crossed into 
Spain. While Stilicho was engaged in the west with these 
invaders, Alaric moved his people from Illyria into Nori- 
cum and sent ambassadors to Stilicho to say that he would 
keep the peace if Noricum were given him with four thou- 
sand pounds of gold. Stilicho laid the matter before the 
Emperor and the Senate at Rome, and since resistance was 
impossible, they acceded to the demands of Alaric. 

Stilicho was the only man in the Empire whom Alaric 
feared. Although a Vandal, he was devoted to the royal 
family and served the Emperor faithfully. Through the 
intrigues of certain factions at the court, however, the Em- 
peror was led to believe that Stilicho was a dangerous plot- 
ter, and had him seized and put to death. The death of 
Stilicho was the signal for another revolt (408) of the West 
Goths. Alaric demanded more money and the cession of 
Pannonia, and, as his demands were refused, promptly in- 
vaded Italy. Twice he besieged Rome, and twice, deceived 
by the false promises of the Emperor, was induced to raise 
the siege. But the third time he persisted. On August 
23, 410, the city was delivered into his hands by the 
treachery of Gothic slaves, and was plundered by his troops. 
They did not greatly damage it, but the world was deeply 
shocked that its capital should become the spoil of Barba- 
rians. 

Alaric then moved to the south and prepared to invade 
Sicily and Africa. At Rhegium he collected a large fleet, 
which was destroyed by a storm. The winter coming on, 
Alaric pitched his camp near Cosenza, intending to renew 



The Migrations of the Nations 27 

the invasion the following year. A few days afterward, 
however, he was seized with the Italian fever, and died Death of 
after a brief illness. Legend says that his grave was made ^^^^' 
in the bed of the river Busento by Roman slaves, who were 
then slain in order that his last resting-place might be un- 
known, and so be never desecrated. Alaric was probably 
the greatest of all the German leaders in the period of in- 
vasions. He kept alive in his people the idea of a free in- 
dependent national existence. But for him they would 
have been assimilated to the people of the Empire. 

Alaric was succeeded by his brother-in-law, Athaulf, who Athauif and 
who was in many respects his equal. Athaulf had already i,sh\he^king. 
fallen in love with Placidia, the sister of the Emperor, who ?°""'°t.*^? 

^ ' West Goths. 

with her mother had been taken prisoner in Rome ; and it 
was probably in part due to her influence that he gave up 
his hostile attitude toward the Emperor and made peace 
with him. Gaul and Spain were assigned Athaulf on con- 
dition that he should drive out the Alani, the Suevi, and 
Vandals, and put down the usurper Constantine. In 412 
he led his people over the mountains into southern Gaul. 
Many of the Vandals and Suevi had already passed over 
into Spain. Athaulf quickly conquered southern Gaul as 
far as the Loire, and the northeastern part of Spain. In 
414, at Narbonne, he married Placidia, who had been kept 
a prisoner by the West Goths. Orosius (vii., 43) has re- 
ported a saying of his which shows him in his true great- 
ness. It had long been his desire, Athaulf is made to say, 
to destroy the power and name of Rome and establish in 
its place the kingdom of the Goths. The Roman Empire 
was to be replaced by Gothia. But he had, at length, seen 
that his people were too untamed to submit to the necessary 
laws and discipline of a state ; and had chosen, therefore, 
to be rather the preserver of Rome than its destroyer. 
These words show him to have been a man of deep insight 



28 A SJiort History of MedicBval Europe 



The Suevi in 

Northwestern 

Spain. 



The West 
Goths become 
orthodox, are 
driven out of 
Gaul, con- 
quered by the 
Mohamme- 
dans. 



and excellent judgment. It was impossible, however, for 
him to keep peace with Honorius, who listened to the slan- 
ders of the intriguers at court. He revolted, and again 
set up as Emperor, Attalus, who was soon afterward taken 
prisoner and put to death by the forces of Honorius. At- 
haulf himself was murdered in 415, and was succeeded by 
Walia, who made peace with the Emperor. Walia carried 
on a bitter war against the Alani, Suevi, and Vandals. The 
Alani were wholly subjected, the Suevi pushed into the 
northwestern part of Spain, and the Vandals were driven 
to the south. He succeeded in establishing the kingdom 
of the West Goths on both sides of the Pyrenees, with Tou- 
louse as his principal residence. 

The kingdom of the West Goths (415-71 1) maintained 
its strength for many years. Many of its kings were able 
men, and ruled well. Since the West Goths were Barba- 
rians, conquerors, and heretics, the orthodox Provincials 
refused to fuse with them. But in 586 Reccared, who had 
been brought up in the orthodox faith, ascended the throne, 
and, following his example, his subjects soon adopted the 
orthodox creed. The principal hindrance to the fusion of 
the two peoples was thereby removed. The king made the 
bishops his chief councillors, and his legislation and gov- 
ernment were greatly influenced by the Church. The 
West Goths were slowly Romanized, and made progress in 
civilization. They were not, however, able to maintain 
themselves north of the Pyrenees. The Franks were ex- 
tending themselves toward the south, and in the years 507- 
1 1 their king, Chlodwig, broke the power of the West Goths 
in Gaul and practically drove them beyond the Pyrenees. 
Realizing that their future must lie in Spain, they set them- 
selves to conquer the whole of it. In 585 they overcame 
the Suevi, and till 711 remained masters of the peninsula. 
In that year the Mohammedans crossed the Strait of Gib- 



The Migrations of the Nations 29 

raltar and easily made an end of the West Gothic kingdom, 
only a small strip of territory along the southern slopes of 
the Pyrenees remaining in the hands of the Christians. 

The Suevi took possession of all the northwestern part of The Suevi. 
Spain (419), and their kings took up their residence in 
the city of Braga, The Suevi played no important role in 
the history of the country. In 585 they were conquered 
and their kingdom incorporated by the West Goths. 

The Vandals remained in southern Spain till 429, when The Vandais 
they were invited by Boniface, the governor of the province 
of Africa, to come and assist him in his struggle against the 
Emperor. With his whole people, numbering about eighty 
thousand persons, Geiseric, their king, crossed into Africa, King Geiseric. 
only to find that Boniface had made terms with the Emper- 
or and did not need his services. After demanding and 
being refused his pay, Geiseric resorted to arms, and in 
about ten years had conquered and taken possession of the 
province of Africa. He made himself master of a fleet 
and quickly had all the islands of the western Medi- 
terranean in his possession. He attacked the coast of 
Italy, and in 455 took and sacked Rome, carrying off 
as prisoner Eudoxia, the daughter of the Emperor Val- 
entinian III. She was later married to his son and 
successor, Hunneric. Geiseric was a wily diplomat as 
well as an able commander. He often entered into dip- 
lomatic relations with the Emperors and also with Odo- 
vaker, and secured treaties with them, which confirmed 
him in his possession of Africa and the islands. Being an 
Arian, he bitterly harassed and persecuted the orthodox 
Roman Provincials. Fearing revolt, he dismantled the 
walls of all the important places except Carthage, where he 
himself resided. He died in 477, and was succeeded by his 
son Hunneric (477-84), who had all his father's vices with- 
out any of his virtues and ability. During his reign the 



30 A Short History of Mcdiceval Europe 



End of the 
Vandal kin 
dom. 



Moors regained much territory on the south. He made 
himself more odious than even his father by his persecutions 
of the Cathohcs, many of whom he put to death or muti- 
lated. 

Under his successors the Vandal power steadily declined 
till 533, when the Emperor Justinian sent his general, Beli- 
sarius, with a small army into Africa. Belisarius easily put 
an end to the Vandal kingdom, and reduced Africa again to 
the position of a Roman province. Some of the Vandals 
perished in the war, the others either migrated or were fused 
with the population about them. 
The Alamanni. The Alamanni were composed of fragments of many Ger- 
man tribes who established themselves in the territory now 
known as the Black Forest and the northern part of Switzer- 
land, where their dialect is still spoken in the rural districts. 
They also occupied the valleys of the Main and the Neckar. 
They were a loose confederation of tribes, each under its 
own king, without any central government. Their separate 
existence was cut short in 496, when they were conquered 
by the Franks. 

The Burgundians left their home between the Oder and 
the Vistula about the middle of the third century, and in a 
few years we find them on the Rhine and the Main. The 
territory about Worms was granted them in 413. The 
scene of many parts of the Nibelungen Lied is laid in and 
about Worms, and the Lied contains the Burgundian tradi- 
tions of that period. After various fortunes the Emperor's 
officer, Aetius, in 443, transferred them to the territory south 
of Lake Geneva on both sides of the Rhone, from which 
they extended their power, till, in 473, they had reached the 
Mediterranean. Gundobad (474-516), by putting two of his 
rivals to death and subordinating another to himself, be- 
came sole king. He received the title of Patricius from the 
Emperor, and was regarded as one of his officials. Roman 



The Burgun- 
dians, 



TJie Migrations of the Nations 31 

scholars were gladly welcomed at his court, and the culture 
of the Empire found a home with him. For two reasons, 
however, the continued national existence of the Burgun- 
dians was impossible. They were Arian, while the Provin- 
cials, among whom they hved, were orthodox ; and the 
Franks, who were rising in power, coveted their territory. 
After some ineffectual attempts the Franks conquered the 
Burgundians and made an end of their kingdom (534). 

After taking possession of southeastern Europe in the last 
quarter of the fourth century, the course of the Huns to the 
west was temporarily checked. They seem not to have re- 
mained long united, but to have broken up into groups, 
some of which went into the service of the Empire. After 
awhile a new leader appeared in the person of Rugilas, who 
did much to bring them together again. At his death 
(435) he was succeeded by two nephews, Bleda and Attila, 
who ruled jointly till about 444, when Attila caused Bleda 
to be assassinated. 

By diplomatic means, as well as by force, Attila united Attila and the 
all the peoples, of whatever race, between the Volga and the 
Rhine. With an army composed largely of Huns and Ger- 
mans he more than once ravaged the Eastern Empire, even 
crossing into Asia, carrying the war into Armenia, Syria, 
the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates, and threatening 
Persia. Constantinople was in danger from him, and was 
compelled to pay a heavy ransom. 

At length, in 450, he turned his attention to the west. 
With an immense army he crossed the Rhine, ravaged north- 
ern Gaul, and was moving toward the south when his march 
was stopped by the defence of Orleans. Aetius, the com- 
mander of the imperial army in the west, gathered together 
all the forces possible and went to assist the city. Attila 
withdrew to the '^ Catalaunian Fields" (the exact location The Catalau- 
of which is unknown), where he was defeated (451) in a 



32 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Condition of 
Italy. 



Constanti- 
nople. 



great battle. He retreated to his capital in Pannonia, a 
village near the modern Tokai, on the Theiss river. The 
next summer he invaded and ravaged all northern Italy, but 
was compelled to retreat, because of the fever which broke 
out in his army and the approach of the army under Aetius. 
He died in 453, in a drunken stupor. The story of the 
embassy of the Bishop of Rome, Leo the Great, to Attila, 
is legendary. 

Though a Barbarian, Attila was by no means a savage. 
He practised the arts of diplomacy, often sent and received 
embassies, and respected the international laws and customs 
which then existed. His residence presented a strong mixt- 
ure of barbarism and luxury. His small wooden houses 
were filled with the rich plunder carried off in his many in- 
vasions of Roman territory. He despised Rome and her 
civilization, and hoped to erect an Empire of his own on 
her ruins. He had among his following several Greeks, 
through whose written accounts of him, his conquests, and 
his kingdom, he hoped to become immortal. At his death 
his Empire fell rapidly to pieces. His son, Ella, attempted 
to quell the revolting tribes, but lost his life in battle, 454. 
All the German and Slavic peoples which had obeyed At- 
tila and added to his strength now became independent 
again. 

Before recounting the invasion of Italy by the East Goths, 
it is necessary to look at its condition. Ever since the es- 
tablishment of the Empire, Rome had been steadily declin- 
ing. Much of the prestige which had once been hers now 
belonged to the Emperor, because the power was in his 
hands. Constant wars on the frontier kept the Emperor 
from residing in Rome. Constantine recognized that the 
government could no longer be administered from Rome, 
so he chose Byzantium for his residence, fortified and beau- 
tified it, and gave it his name. It was apparent from the 



The Migrations of the Nations 33 

first that this was a wise choice. It lay on the confines of 
Asia and Europe, was convenient to the seats of war, Persia 
and the Danube, and was altogetlier a strategic position. 
Moreover, it was easily defended, being a natural strong- 
hold. It commanded the sea, a fact of the utmost impor- 
tance for both war and trade. Its beautiful curved harbor, 
the centre of the world's commerce during the Middle Age, 
has been properly called " the Golden Horn," because of 
its shape and the wealth it has brought to the city. As a 
residence of the Emperor in the east, Constantinople was 
without a rival. 

The work of governing the Empire was too arduous for 
one man. After various attempts to solve this difficulty, it 
became customary to divide the government between two The govem- 
Emperors, one exercising authority in the east, the other "^'^"^ <^ '^'^<^ ^ • 
in the west. At the death of Theodosius (395) his two 
sons succeeded him, Arcadius receiving the east, and Hono- 
rius the west. After a short time Honorius removed his 
court to Ravenna, a further step in the humiliation of 
Rome. 

The fifth century was full of wars and anarchy. The 
Emperors were, for the most part, weak, profligate, vicious, 
and utterly regardless of the interests of the state. They did 
little to check the invasions of the Barbarians. The army, 
composed mostly of German mercenaries, plundered and 
pillaged the inhabitants as it pleased. Wishing to establish 
themselves, the soldiers demanded that one-third of the soil 
be given them. Romulus Augustulus was at this time Em- 
peror, but his father, Orestes, was the power behind the 
throne. The demand of the troops was refused, whereupon 
Odovaker, a German of great courage and ability, put him- Odovaicer. 
self at the head of the mercenaries and took by force what 
had been denied them. Orestes was slain, and the little 
Emperor compelled to go before the senate and resign his 



34 A SJiort History of Mediceval Europe 



imperial dignity. At the command of Odovaker the sen- 
ate, sending the imperial insignia and standards to Zeno, 
the Emperor in the east, informed him that there was no 
need of a western Emperor, since one Emperor was able to 
protect both the east and the west. They gave their con- 
sent to the removal of the capital from Rome to Constan- 
tinople and renounced the right of electing the Emperor, 
besides asking that the honorary and indefinite title of Pa- 
tricius be conferred on Odovaker, and that he be invested 
with the administration of the government of Italy. In 
accordance with the hesitating policy of the eastern Em- 
perors, the request was neither granted nor refused. Zeno 
rebuked them for some things, praised them for others, and 
treated Odovaker as Patricius without actually committing 
himself. 

Odovaker, not in the least disturbed by this, assumed 
the title of Patricius and was called king of the com- 
bined Barbarians in Italy. He now gave one-third of the 
lands to his troops. He ruled Italy well, restoring the 
office of consul in Rome (482), and renewing and preserv- 
ing the institutions and laws of the city. Theoretically his 
government was under the control of the eastern Emperor, 
but practically he was almost independent. He restored 
peace, enforced the laws, and gave Italy an excellent gov- 
ernment, till, as prosperity was rapidly returning and Italy 
was beginning to recover from the long period of misrule 
and violence, his success led to his downfall. In 487 he 
attacked the Rugians in Pannonia, defeated them and car- 
ried off the son of their king Feletheus, Frederick, who, 
however, quickly made his escape, fled to the East Goths 
and begged their king Theoderic to avenge him. 

Theoderic obtained Zeno's consent, couched in ambigu- 
ous terms, to invade Italy ; and collecting his people, he 
set out in the autumn of 488, a year later entered Italy, 



The Migrations of the Nations 35 

and, defeating Odovaker, besieged him in Ravenna. After 
four years of struggle Theoderic and Odovaker agreed to 
divide the government of Italy between them ; but a few 
days later Theoderic basely murdered Odovaker and took 
possession of the country (493). He preserved the Roman 
government as nearly intact as possible and used educated 
Romans as his officials, among whom Cassiodorus, Boe thi- 
ns, and Symmachus were famous. Theoderic developed an The rule of 
activity of the widest range. He restored the aqueducts ^° ^^^^' 
and the walls of many cities, repaired the roads, drained 
marshes, reopened mines, promoted commerce and agri- 
culture, repaired public buildings, administered the strict- 
est justice, preserved the peace, and enforced the laws. He 
gave Italy a new period of prosperity. Appreciating and 
admiring the Roman civilization, he nevertheless believed 
that it induced effeminacy, and was therefore unwilling that 
his Goths should have any part in it ; the education of the 
schools and the use of the pen were for the Romans, the 
practice of war for his people. 

In religious matters he had a singularly clear mind. Al- 
though an Arian, he refused to persecute the orthodox, and 
gave the Jews protection against their Christian persecutors. 
He declared that no compulsion should be used in matters 
of faith, and that '' to assume control over the beliefs and 
consciences of others was to usurp the prerogative of God." 
Toward the end of his reign he was guilty of persecution, 
though this was more for political than for religious reasons, 
Boethius and Symmachus, two of his trusted officials, being 
put to death for what was supposed to be treasonable cor- 
respondence with the Emperor at Constantinople. 

Toward his barbarian neighbors in the west Theoderic 
had what may be called a German policy. He felt that His 
the future belonged to the Germans, if they would but 
unite and not destroy each other. Accordingly he at- 



man 



36 A SJiort History of Mediceval Europe 



Other German 
tribes. 



tempted to bring them all into close alliance, hoping there- 
by to prevent all German wars. 

His death in 526 was quickly followed by national dis- 
aster. Violence reigned under his weak successors, and 
Justinian made this an excuse for attacking them. His 
army invaded Italy, and after nearly twenty years of inter- 
mittent struggle, the kingdom of the East Goths was over- 
thrown and Italy was made a province of the Empire. 

Around the lower Rhine there were several tribes, such 
as the Sugambri, Chamavi, Attuarii, Ampsivarii, Chatti, 
Teucteri, Bructeri, and others, who in some unknown way 
came to be called Franks. The most important divisions 
were the Salians, near the mouth of the Rhine, and the 
Ripuarians near Cologne. During the fourth and fifth 
centuries they gradually spread by conquest to the south. 
They were not yet united, there being several independent 
kings among them, each ruling over his own group or 
tribe. 

About the middle of the fifth century a tribe of Salian 
Franks comes into notice under their king, Childeric. 
Several other kings are mentioned, among them, Mero- 
veus, from whom the later dynasty takes its name ; but 
these are probably legendary. At the death of Childeric, 
481, his son, Chlodwig (Clovis, Louis, Ludwig), succeeded 
him and began a remarkable career of conquest which 
ended in the union of all the Franks under his sceptre. 
The kingdom of the Franks may be regarded as beginning 
with the accession of Chlodwig to the throne. 

Besides the German tribes thus far mentioned, there 
were others still uninfluenced by the Romans, occupying 
territory outside of the Empire. Such were the Thurin- 
gians, the Bavarians, the Lombards, the Saxons, the Danes, 
and others, all of whom were yet to play an important part 
in the history of Europe. Still other once powerful tribes, 



The Migrations of the Nations 37 

among them the Gepidae, the Herulians, and the Rugians, 
had either disappeared or were soon to disappear, worn out 
by the long struggle with each other or with Rome. 

The territory between the mouth of the Rhine and the 
straits leading into the Baltic was occupied by several tribes, 
the most important of which were the Friesians, the Saxons, 
the Angles, and the Jutes. In the fifth century these peo- 
ples began to ravage the coast of Britain, and, probably in The 
449, made the beginning of a settlement on the coast of 
Kent. After a bitter struggle, which lasted nearly twenty- 
five years, the whole of Kent fell into the hands of the Jutes. 

Almost all of the south shore, west of Kent, was seized 
by Saxons, who settled in groups known as the South Sax- 
ons, the West Saxons, and the Middle Saxons. There was 
also a settlement of Jutes on the Isle of Wight, and one in 
the neighborhood of Southampton. The East Saxons occu- 
pied the territory north of the mouth of the Thames. The 
district between the Stour and the Wash, now known as 
East Anglia, was seized by Angles, who were divided into 
two groups, the North Folk, and the South Folk. Other 
Angles made settlements all along the east coast, as far north 
as the Firth of Forth. Reenforcements were regularly re- 
ceived for a long time, and the invaders were engaged in 
constant warfare with the Romanized Kelts of the country, 
who were gradually driven back. In about two hundred 
years the Kelts were practically confined to Wales and 
Cornwall. Many of the Kelts who were driven out by the 
Saxons crossed over to Gaul and settled in the ancient Ar- 
morica, to which they gave the name of Brittany. 

The Britons having been dispossessed, Brittany became The change i 
the home of the Anglo-Saxons. The cities, with their Ro- 
man temples, baths, and public buildings, were for the most 
part deserted, and fell into decay ; the roads were left to 
take care of themselves ; Christianity was replaced by the 



38 A SJiort History of McdicBval Europe 

worship of Woden and Thor. Instead of Latin and Keltic, 
only German dialects were spoken. The civilization which 
the Romans had introduced into the Island was destroyed 
and Brittany fell back into the barbarism of the German 
forests. 

The various settlements made were entirely independent 
of each other and were ruled over by '' kings." The num- 
ber of kingdoms thus formed varied from time to time. 
There was constant warfare among them, and the leadership 
passed from one to another in rapid succession. Eventually 
the struggle was confined to the three strongest kingdoms, 
Northumbria, Mercia (the March or borderland), and Wes- 
Ecgberht,8o2- sex, and victory finally fell to Ecgberht (802-39), the king 
a?l England. ° of the West Saxons. He placed members of his own fam- 
ily over Kent, Sussex, and Essex, while Northumbria, East 
Anglia, and Mercia, acknowledging Ecgberht as their over- 
lord, were allowed to retain their kings. Out of this over- 
lordship was to be developed, within two hundred years, 
the kingship of all England. 
England re- These Anglo-Saxons established in Britain a pure German 

man. " State. The Roman civilization was gone ; there was noth- 
ing to prevent their free development along the lines pecul- 
iar to themselves. Their Anglo-Saxon dialect developed 
into a literary language almost uninfluenced by Latin. It 
was spoken everywhere ; as early as 680 Caedmon had sung 
the ** Song of Creation " in his mother tongue, and parts, 
at least, of the heathen poem Beowulf were already in ex- 
istence. The laws of the people, written down in Anglo- 
Saxon, not in Latin, as were the laws of all the Germanic 
kingdoms on the continent, show that the government, 
legal ideas, and customs, which the people had had on the 
continent had not been influenced by Rome and her civil- 
ization. As a result England has now the purest Germanic 
law of any country in existence — purer than in Germany 



TJie Migrations of the Nations 39 

itself, where, owing to the later connection between that 
country and the Empire, Roman law prevailed over the 
Germanic. 

The Anglo-Saxons parcelled out their lands to groups 
probably of about a hundred warriors. The land which 
such a group received was then divided among them and 
they settled in villages. Their residences were called after 
the name of the family, with the addition of "-ham" " Ham " and 
or ''-tun" (English, ''home" and "town;" German, "*""'" 
" Heim " and " Zaun "). " Ham " had the meaning of 
" dwelling," and " tun " signified the wall or fence which 
enclosed the village or place of defence. The affairs of 
each township were managed by all the freemen of the vil- Democratic 
lage, who met to discuss and decide all public matters. In ^ovemmen . 
the same way all the freemen of the Hundred met and de- 
termined all questions that concerned the welfare of the 
Hundred. A still higher court, composed of all the free- 
men of the whole tribe, was assembled whenever questions 
that concerned the whole tribe were to be decided or dis- 
putes between the Hundreds were to be settled. It is 
probable that it was early found to be impracticable to get 
all the freemen together as often as was desirable, and this 
led to the introduction of a kind of representation. A 
small number of men were sent from each township to the 
Hundredmoot, and the same number sent from each Hun- 
dred to the Folkmoot. The same social distinctions were 
perpetuated as had existed among them on the continent. 
There were three classes : the noblemen or ealdormen, the 
freemen or ceorls, and the slaves. The comitatus was, of 
course, quickly modified, the followers of a leader being 
called thanes as soon as they got lands and left the imme- 
diate presence of their leaders. 

The Christianization of Ireland is veiled in obscurity, Christianity in 
but it seems probable that St. Patrick (died in 465 or 493) 



40 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



was the first missionary who met with very much success 
there. Under him the whole island became Christian, 
though it was in a low state of civilization, and in the next 
centuries won so great a reputation for its piety that it was 
called '* The Isle of Saints." The Church of Ireland was 
independent of Rome, and differed in several respects from 
the Church on the continent, especially in matters of ritual 
and government (the time of celebrating Easter, the dress 
and tonsure of the monks, etc.). The type of Christianity 
established there was thoroughly ascetic and monastic. 
The ascetic zeal of the Irish for the Church led them to 
try to convert the world to their form of Christianity. It 
was not so much what is now called the "missionary 
spirit," as the desire to undergo hardships of all kinds. To 
travel in foreign lands as a missionary (^peregrinare pro 
Christo) was, because of its difficulties, a meritorious work. 
In accordance with their ascetic ideas, they settled not in 
the cities but in the wilds. Their first settlements were in 
Scotland. In 563 St. Columba (or St. Columbcille) sailed 
with twelve fellow-monks to Scotland, where the island of 
lona was given them, from which, occasionally reenforced 
by other monks from Ireland, they carried on their work 
on the mainland. They labored not only in Scotland, but 
also among the Anglo-Saxons of Britain and on the conti- 
nent. Lindisfarne, on the east coast of England, was oc- 
cupied by them, and for a long time was a centre of mis- 
sionary activity among the Angles. 

On his accession Oswald (634-42), king of Northumbria, 
having once been sheltered in the monastery of lona, sent 
to its abbot for missionaries. St. Aidan, and after him, St. 
Cuthbert, met with great success, and it seemed for some 
time that the Church of Ireland would extend itself over 
the whole of Great Britain. But there was another stream 
of missionary activity beginning to move to the west which 



The Migrations of the Nations 41 

had its source in Rome. In 596 Gregory the Great, Bish- 
op of Rome, sent a monk, Augustine, with about thirty 
companions, to Kent. Aethelberht, king of Kent, had re- 
cently married Bertha, an orthodox Frankish princess, who 
now exerted all her influence in favor of the missionaries, 
and within a year the king, and many of his nobles, ac- 
cepted Christianity and were baptized. 

From Kent the orthodox form spread slowly to the north, 
constantly nearing the boundaries of the Irish faith. Finally 
they met face to face in Northumbria. A bitter struggle 
arose ; the king called a council at Whitby (664) to dis- The Council 
cuss the questions at issue between them, and there decided 55^^ ^^^ ^' 
to follow the faith and party of the orthodox Church. The 
decision brought England into close connection with the 
continent, especially with the Bishop of Rome, assured the 
influence of Rome, and so affected all the future of English 
history. Roman legal ideas, usages, and modes of thought, 
in short, the remains of Rome's civilization, were imported 
into England, greatly to her advantage. Later the advan- 
tages were to become smaller and the disadvantages very 
much greater ; but for the present it was highly beneficial 
to England. 

Theodore of Tarsus, a learned Greek, came to England 
as Archbishop of Canterbury (669-90), and by virtue of 
his high position organized the English Church around Can- 
terbury as the centre and head. He divided all the terri- 
tory into bishoprics, and introduced the parish system. The 
whole was bound to the Bishop of Rome. The church or- 
ganization did not follow the boundaries of the kingdoms, 
but all were impressed with the fact that the Church was One Church, 
one and could recognize no political or national lines. The 
idea of the unity of the Church had great influence on the 
political ideas, and helped prepare the minds of the people 
for the idea of the political unity of the whole country. 



42 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

The learning of the monks of England was considerable. 
While Greek was utterly unknown in the west of Europe, 
it was mastered by some of the pupils of Theodore. The 
Monasticism monasteries contained many monks who were excellent 
Bedef ^"^'"^' scholars. Most famous of all was Bede, known as the Ven- 
erable Bede (673-735), a monk of Jarrow. He had for his 
pupils the six hundred monks of that monastery, besides the 
many strangers who came to hear him. He gradually mas- 
tered all the learning of his day, and left at his death forty- 
five volumes of his writings, the most important of which 
are, *' The Ecclesiastical History of the English," and his 
translation of the Gospel of John into English. His writ- 
ings were widely known and recognized throughout Europe. 
He reckoned all dates from the birth of Christ, and through 
his works the use of the Christian Era became common in 
Europe. Owing to the large number of monasteries and 
monks in Northumbria, that part of England was far in ad- 
vance of the south in civilization. 

Of all the kingdoms whose beginnings we have thus far 
traced, only two, those of the Franks and the Anglo-Sax- 
ons, were to survive the dangers which beset their existence 
and to become powerful states; all the others lost their polit- 
ical independence, and were either destroyed or absorbed 
by the peoples among whom they had settled. 



were invaders. 



CHAPTER III 

THE REACTION OF THE EMPIRE AGAINST THE GERMANS 

Although there was more or less friendly intercourse 
between the various Germanic kingdoms and the court of 
Constantinople, the situation was far from pleasing to the 
Emperor. The Barbarians had invaded his territory ; they The Germans 
were unwelcome guests whom he must entertain because he 
did not have the power to drive them out. Of this weak- 
ness they took advantage, and ruled with such indepen- 
dence that their lands were practically cut off from the 
Empire. Such a loss of territory was regarded as a great 
disgrace, which could be removed only by the reconquest 
of the lost provinces. In an absolute government every- 
thing depends on the ability of the monarch. The anarchy 
and violence of the fourth and fifth centuries were possible 
because of the weak Emperors and the internal feuds and 
dissensions. The weak rulers of these centuries were fol- 
lowed by a succession of able men, chief of whom was Jus- 
tinian. In him the reaction against the Germans reached 
its highest point. Under Zeno (474-91), Anastasius I. 
(491-518), and Justin I. (518-27), the Empire slowly 
gathered strength, and the way was prepared for the brill- 
iant activity of Justinian (527-65). The long period of 
helplessness and weakness was followed by a great revival 
of strength, in which the palmy days of the Empire seemed 
to return. The imperial arms were again victorious, and 
large parts of the lost territory were reconquered and again 
united to the Empire. 

43 



44 ^ Short History of MedicEval Europe 

Justinian, Justinian's claim to the title Great rests on his versatility 

and cleverness. His interests were of the widest range. He 
was interested in building and architecture, in law and 
theology, in commerce and manufactures, in war, diplomacy, 
and the art of governing. He was able to select men of 
ability to fill the highest positions and to work for him ; he 
was inflexible in will and persisted with the greatest deter- 
mination in a policy which he had once adopted. 

His attention was called to the condition of the laws. 
They had never yet been collected and thoroughly sifted 
and codified. There were many inconsistencies and con- 
tradictions among them ; consequently the administration 

Codification of justice was very difficult. Justinian appointed a com- 
^' mission, with Tribonian at its head, to collect, harmonize, 
and arrange the laws of the Empire. This was done in such 
a way that all earlier collections were made useless, and hence 
the most of them were soon destroyed. The laws themselves 
were gathered into one collection which has ever since been 
called the Codex of Justinian. Tribonian seems to have 
used the utmost freedom in its treatment of the text of the 
laws. Many changes were made in order to reduce them 
to harmony. Besides the laws, the opinions, explanations, 
and decisions of famous judges and lawyers were collected. 
As in the practice of law to-day, much regard was had for 
precedent and decisions in similar cases, and these were 
brought together from all quarters in a collection called the 
Pandects. For the use of the law students, a treatise on 
the general principles of Roman law was prepared, which 
was called the Institutes. Justinian himself carefully kept 
the laws which he promulgated, and afterward published 
them under the title of ^' Novelise." 

Immense sums of money were necessary to carry on the 
work which Justinian wished to do. The churches he built, 
the most famous of which is St. Sophia ; the walls and nu- 



The Reaction of the Empire 45 

merous forts with which he sought to protect the Empire; 

the fraud practised in the administration of the army and 

in the collection of the taxes ; Justinian's lavish personal Taxation. 

expenditures and the extravagance of the court so increased 

the taxes that the financial ruin of the people was only a 

question of time. 

Under Justinian Byzantine art took on its final form. A Byzantine art. 
fixed style of church architecture was developed, the prin- 
cipal characteristics of which are the cupola and the round 
arch. The churches were decorated with mosaics and 
paintings. In painting, also, certain types were accepted 
and forms established which became orthodox, and from 
which the Church would suffer no variation. These types 
and forms therefore existed for centuries without any 
change. In fact they are still observed and practised in 
the religious art of Russia and Greece. 

Justinian regarded himself as the final authority in all Justinian and 
Church matters, both in doctrine and in polity. He him- 
self was orthodox, and believed that it was the duty of the 
state to destroy heresy. Heretics were persecuted and de- 
prived of the rights of citizenship. He treated the Bishops 
of Rome as his officials. When they displeased him, he 
ordered them to come to Constantinople, and he repri- 
manded, imprisoned, and even deposed and exiled them, 
as it seemed best to him. What may be called ''home 
mission work" was carried on by the clergy at the com- 
mand of Justinian. There were still large numbers of pagans 
in the Empire. Nearly all the peasants were pagan, and 
even in Constantinople there were many to be found. 
These were sought out and forced to accept Christianity or 
suffer persecution. Many were mutilated and their goods 
seized. 

The greatest university of the world was, in this period, The Univer- 
at Athens. Its professors were wholly pagan. So great ^^ ^ ^ 



46 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Discussion of 

theological 

questions. 



was its fame, however, that even the Christian youth were 
sent there to be educated. Some of the greatest of the 
Church fathers were trained in that university. In 529 
Justinian closed the schools of Athens, and forbade heathen 
philosophers to teach. They were practically exiled. Many 
of them fled to Persia, where they hoped to find the fullest 
liberty. In this they were disappointed, and after enduring 
persecutions there, they returned to the west. 

The worst foes of the Emperor were the people of Con- 
stantinople, who, because of their turbulence, kept him 
constantly in fear of a rebellion and rendered it impossible 
for him to give his undivided attention to the affairs of 
state. There were two great factions in the capital, each of 
which had its partisans throughout the Empire. These 
factions were divided on all questions, both political and 
religious. Their most common place of meeting was the 
circus, where each party railed at the other and endeavored 
to win the favor and the patronage of the Emperor. From 
the colors of the charioteers in the races the factions were 
known as the *' Greens " and the "Blues." The Blues 
were orthodox and devoted to the house of Justinian, while 
the Greens were heterodox and secretly attached to the 
family of Anastasius. 

Probably religious differences were the cause of the deep- 
est hatred and at the bottom of all the trouble, although 
ambition played a prominent part in it. During the long 
period in which Christianity was fusing with the philoso- 
phy of the Greeks, and the dogmas of the Church were 
being developed in accordance therewith (that is, during 
the first eight centuries, although the highest activity was 
reached from the third to the sixth century), the Greek in- 
tellectual world was in a state of the greatest fermentation 
and discussion. Even the humblest would have his say 
about the highest questions, and the greengrocer, the bar- 



The Reaction of the Empire 47 

ber, and the cobbler were more interested in discussing 
metaphysical questions with their customers than in serving 
them.^ The questions at issue were purely speculative in 
regard to the person of Jesus and his relation to God. 
Arianism declared that Jesus was not God, and had not 
existed eternally but had been created. He occupied, 
however, a much higher place than man. Orthodoxy was 
content with no other form of statement than one which 
would declare that Jesus ''was the Son of God, begotten 
of the Father, before all the world, Light of Light, very 
God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one sub- 
stance with the Father." Furthermore, if Jesus was God, 
how was he at the same time man ? What kind of body 
did he have? Did he have two natures, the divine and 
the human? How were these united? Did he have two 
wills, one the divine will, the other human? What was 
the relation between them? These and other similar 
questions were discussed, not only in the church councils, ^ 

but at the court, in the streets, in the places of business, 
and, indeed, wherever people came together. Their dis- 
cussion and study absorbed the attention of the best talent 
of the day. Still worse, they were fused with politics, and 
every political question was at the same time a religious Theology and 
one. It was inevitable that such a combination should add ^° ^ '^^' 
to the mutual hatred, intrigue, and treachery. Though 
Justinian's ambition made it impossible for him to submit 
tamely to the tyranny of these factions, for some years he 
found no means of overcoming them, and was compelled 
to suffer many indignities at their hands. In 532, how- 
ever, in consequence of a riot, Justinian seized some of the 
leaders of both factions and ordered them to be put to 



' Gibbon, chap, xxvii., quotes from Jortin a paraphrase of a passage in 
Gregory of Nyssa's Sermon on the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy 
Spirit. 



48 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



The factions 
destroyed. 



The Emper- 
or's anti-Ger- 
man policy. 



Unsuccessful 
in his plans. 



Persia. 



The Slavs. 



death. But two of them were rescued by the people, and 
both parties, choosing Hypatus Emperor, united against 
Justinian, who lost courage and would have fled but for the 
persuasions of the Empress Theodora. The imperial 
guard under Belisarius was sent to attack the rioters, who 
had taken possession of the circus. The mob were taken 
off their guard. Belisarius put thousands to death, among 
them all the leaders, and the power of the factions was 
broken. The city was now helpless in the Emperor's 
hands, and he was consequently free to turn his attention 
to the larger policy on which he had already set his heart. 

This policy was to recover all the lost provinces and re- 
store the Empire in all its extent. This necessitated the 
destruction of the German kingdoms, and Justinian turned 
his attention to the west. An account of his conquest of 
the Vandals in Africa and of the East Goths in Italy has 
already been given. He also attacked the West Goths in 
Spain (551), but was successful only in gaining a few 
places on the coast. By his intrigues, the German tribes 
north of the Danube, such as the Lombards, Gepidae, and 
Heruli, were kept at war with each other. But Justinian's 
anti-German policy was destined to fail because he was 
distracted from it by the wars which he was compelled to 
wage with the Persians, the Slavs, the Avars, and the Bul- 
garians. Persia, under its great king, Chosroes I. (531- 
79), was at the height of its power, and Justinian was not 
able to cope successfully with this hereditary foe. His 
victory over the East Goths was delayed more than once, 
because he was compelled to use all his forces in the East, 
but in spite of his exertions he was defeated by the Per- 
sians, compelled to pay tribute, and to surrender some of 
his territory in the East. The Slavs also interfered with 
Justinian's plans. As the Germans deserted the territory 
south of the Baltic, the Slavs followed them and took pos- 



The Reaction of the Empire 49 

session of all the land as far west as the Elbe. They fol- 
lowed hard upon the heels of the withdrawing Bavarians, 
occupying Bohemia, Moravia, and many parts of modern 
Austria. More than once they crossed the Danube, rav- 
aged the provinces, and even threatened Constantinople. 
They pressed into the Balkan Peninsula and made settle- 
ments, which have grown into the modern Bosnia, Dal- 
matia, Servia, and other Slavic principalities now subject 
either to Turkey or Austria. A little later they colo- 
nized Greece. The Peloponnesus was so completely occu- 
pied by them that it came to be called Slavonia. 

The Bulgarians were originally a Ural-Altaic people. The 
but they came into Europe, settled among some Slavic ^" ganans. 
tribes, and were absorbed by them. Nothing was left but 
their name, which came to be applied to the Slavs with 
whom they had fused. They lost their language, customs, 
and nationality, and became thoroughly Slavic. Year 
after year this mixed people invaded the Empire and de- 
vastated many of its fairest districts. It was not till about 
680 that they settled in the territory which they now oc- 
cupy. 

In 558 the Avars (the Cotrigur Huns) invaded the Em- The Avars, 
pire from the east. After doing much damage they finally 
established on the middle Danube the kingdom of the 
Avars, which later was destroyed by Karl the Great. 

Luckily at the very time of Justinian's opposition to it, 
the Germanic element in the Empire was strengthened by 
the formation of the great tribe of the Bavarians, the settle- New German 
ment of the Lombards in Italy, and the growth of the 
Franks (which latter will be described in the succeeding 
chapter). 

Some German tribes known as the Marcomanni had at 
one time occupied Bohemia, Bajabemum, from which they 
received the name Bavarians (Bajavarii, men of Bohemia). 



50 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

Shortly after 487 they left Bohemia and took possession 
of the territory which now bears their name and from 
which they were never afterward removed. 

After various wanderings the Lombards had settled in 
Pannonia. They had become allies of the Empire, and at 
the instigation of Justinian had made war on the Heruli, 
and then on the Gepidae. Justinian had feared them, but 
did not live to see their invasion. After his successful 
completion of the war with the East Goths, Narses had 
been made Exarch of Italy, with his residence at Ravenna. 
To avenge his ill-treatment at the hands of Justin II., the 
successor of Justinian, he is said to have invited the Lom- 
bards to invade Italy, promising not to interfere with them. 
They came under their king Alboin (568), bringing frag- 
ments of other tribes with them. They occupied northern 
Italy, and Pavia became their capital. They then moved to 
the south, and, after overrunning a large part of Italy, es- 
tablished the duchies of Benevento and Spoleto. Alboin 
was soon murdered, and a leader named Cleph was made 
king. Cleph ruled less than a year, meeting with the same 
fate as his predecessor. For about ten years the Lombards, 
broken up into bands and groups, each under a duke or 
Herzog, existed without a king. The kingship was not 
yet thoroughly developed among them, and they felt that 
a king was not necessary to their existence. They conse- 
quently reverted to the forms of government which they 
had had before entering the Empire. It is said that there 
were thirty-five such dukes reigning among them at one 
time. They were surrounded by enemies, and their divided 
condition was a cause of great weakness. About 580 they 
became convinced that they needed a king and elected 
Authari ; but the dukes had already become too powerful 
and Authari was never completely master. The duchies 
of Benevento and Spoleto were only nominally obedient. 



The Reaction of the Empire 51 



The territory wrested from the Empire was firmly held, 
but the Lombards could not conquer all Italy. Ravenna, 
the extreme southern part, and the duchy of Rome still re- 
mained in the hands of the Emperor. Unlike all the other 
Germans, many of the Lombards settled in the cities and 
towns. Some of the land was seized, but often the Lom- 
bards required one-third of the produce of the land to be 
paid to them. The old Roman municipal form of govern- 
ment was destroyed, or thoroughly changed, and the Ro- 
mans were compelled to live according to the laws of the 
Lombards. Their urban residence undoubtedly had much 
to do with the early development of the Italian cities, the 
mediaeval grandeur of which was due, in part at least, to 
the German blood of their citizens. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE FRANKS (48 1-8 I 4) 



The reign of 

Chlodwig 

(481-S11). 



The Prankish 
kingdom di- 
vided. 



In 481 Chlodwig became king of a small tribe of Salian 
Franks. By force or fraud he overcame, one after another, 
all the petty kings about him, and slowly gathered the many 
Frankish tribes under his sceptre. In 486 he defeated 
Syagrius, the Roman official who was then governing a 
large district between the Loire and the Seine, and this 
territory was made subject to Chlodwig, who thus extended 
his power to the Loire. In 496 he conquered the kingdom 
of the Alamanni, and in consequence of his victory accepted 
the orthodox form of Christianity and was baptized with a 
large number of his people. The bishop of Rheims, who 
performed the rite, addressed him as a second Constantine, 
and told him it was his duty to protect, defend, and extend 
the Church. This conversion of Chlodwig and the Franks 
to the orthodox faith was the foundation and beginning 
of the famous alliance between the Bishops of Rome and 
the Frankish kings, which, with interruptions, lasted for 
centuries, and profoundly modified the course of events. 

Chlodwig continued his conquests by depriving the 
West Goths of nearly all their territory north of the Pyre- 
nees. When he died, in 511, he divided his kingdom 
among his four sons, who, in spite of frequent civil wars, 
were able to extend their boundaries. In 531 Thuringia 
was acquired; in 534 Burgundy was added to their pos- 
sessions; and in 555 Bavaria was reduced to subjection. 



The Franks 53 



All this territory was united under Chlothar (558-61), 
only to be again divided among his four sons at his death ; 
but neither was this division permanent. The Franks in 
the west were slowly yielding to Roman influences, and 
were becoming separated from the Franks in the east, who 
still remained more thoroughly German and warlike. The 
fact that the two districts were under different kings, who 
were for many years hostile to each other, helped increase 
and perpetuate the differences between them, so that they 
received different names and were regarded as different 
kingdoms. The eastern part was called Austrasia, and the Austrasia and 
western Neustria. During the last half of the sixth century 
these two kingdoms were disturbed by civil wars, the lead- 
ing spirits in which were the rival queens Fredegonda and 
Brunhilda. 

Since the days of Chlodwig an important office had been 
developed at the court of the Frankish kings. As the king 
grew in power and importance, his household increased 
accordingly. Over this household he placed a chief ser- 
vant, who was responsible for its management, called major The major 
domus, or mayor of the palace. This office, at first servile, 
soon took on a political character. The major domus al- 
ways had the ear of the king ; all access to the king was 
through him ; his influence was therefore great. Gradually 
he became the king's intimate adviser, and the original 
character of his office disappeared. It must be noted, too, 
that there was a major domus in each kingdom. The 
nobles early tried to control the appointment of the major The nobility 

^ ^^ obtains control 

domus, unsuccessfully, however, till a mere child succeeded of the office. 

to the throne of Austrasia, when the nobles got possession 

of the boy and appointed one of their own number major 

domus and regent. Since the king was a child, the major 

domus had every opportunity to increase his own power, 

and the king was never again his own master. 



54 A Short History of Mediceval Etirope 



Dagobert. 



Union of the 
families of 
Pippin and 
Arnulf. 



Pippin of Her- 
isthal major 
domus (687- 
714)- 



Karl Martel 
(714-41). 



Dagobert, who was king over all the Franks (628-38), 
was the last to enjoy any great amount of independent 
authority. After him there came the Do-Nothing kings, 
who had no share in the government and were kept only as 
figure-heads. The major domus exercised royal authority 
without having the royal name. At the death of Dagobert 
the office of major domus in Austrasia became hereditary in 
the family of Pippin the elder. This Pippin was the lord 
of two estates, known as Landen and Heristhal. Arnulf, 
bishop of Metz, was married, as were many of the clergy 
of that day, and his son Ansegisil married the daughter of 
Pippin. From this union sprang the line known (from 
their most splendid representative, Karl the Great) as the 
Karlings. Pippin passed his office of major domus on to 
his son Grimoald, who lost his life in an attempt to usurp 
the title of king for his son. The people were too much 
attached to their royal house, and the nobles were too 
jealous of Grimoald, to permit this change. 

Pippin the Younger, or Pippin of Heristhal, as he is 
called, seized the office of major domus and practically 
ruled Austrasia. After a long war he made himself master 
of Neustria also (687-714), thus ruling over the whole 
Frankland. He began a policy which was to be followed 
by his successors and to bear its legitimate fruit in the 
kingdom of Karl the Great. He strove to consolidate his 
vast territories ; to bring them under one central govern- 
ment ; to render this government as nearly absolute as 
possible, and to make the people of his kingdom homo- 
geneous. His son, Karl Martel, who succeeded him (714- 
41), continued his work. His reign was full of wars, 
because, whenever an opportunity was given, some part of 
the kingdom revolted. One after another, the Friesians, 
the Neustrians, the Thuringians, the Bavarians, the Ala- 
manni, and the people of Aquitaine rebelled, only to be put 



The Franks 55 



down by arms. The Mohammedans invaded Frankland 
from Spain (720), but Karl Martel met them at Tours and The battle of 
so completely broke their power (732) that they were ^°"^^ (732). 
never able to establish themselves north of the Pyrenees. 

Before Karl Martel died he divided the power between 
his two sons, Karlman and Pippin. The brothers ruled 
together harmoniously till Karlman resigned and went into 
a monastery, leaving Pippin sole major domus. Deeming 
that the time was now ripe. Pippin laid his plans for ob- 
taining the royal title. He sent an embassy to Rome to 
ask Pope Zacharias which should be king, the one who had 
the title without the power, or the one who had the power 
without the title. Since the Pope was looking abroad for Pippin be- 
an ally, he replied that it seemed to him that the one who "^i^^^^ ^'"^ 
had the power should also be king ; and acting on this. 
Pippin called an assembly of his nobles at Soissons (751), 
deposed the last phantom king of the Merovingian line, and 
was himself elected and anointed king. 

Pippin's invasions of Lombardy and his service to the 
oppressed Papacy will be described later. Before his death 
(768) he divided his kingdom between his two sons, Karl- Karl the Great 
man and Karl — bitter enemies — and civil war was averted ^768-814). 
only by the death of Karlman (771). 

The quarrel between the Pope and the Lombards broke 
out again, and as Karl had a private grudge against the lat- 
ter, he was easily persuaded to interfere on behalf of the 
Pope. He invaded Lombardy, conquered its king, Desi- Karl conquers 
derius, and made himself king of the Lombards. He then *^^ Lombards, 
renewed the gift of his father. Pippin, to the Pope. The 
conquest of the Lombards was of great importance because 
it brought Karl into close relations with Italy and the Pa- 
pacy. 

Equally important for other reasons was the subjugation 
of the Saxons. For more than thirty years (772-804) Karl 



56 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



was engaged in fighting them. Year after year he overran 
their territory and received their submission and their 
promise to accept Christianity ; but as soon as he with- 
drew his army they would revolt, destroy the churches, 
slay the Christian priests, and revert to heathenism. At last 
Karl wore them out and they submitted to his rule. He 
divided the land into bishoprics and established bishops 
at Minden, Paderborn, Verden, Bremen, Osnabrueck, and 
Halberstadt. These places quickly grew into towns and 
became centres of life and civilization. Roads were built 
to connect them to facilitate travel and trade. 

Karl's reign was one long campaign. Revolts in Bavaria 
called him into that duchy several times, and in 787 he re- 
moved its duke and placed it under counts of his own ap- 
pointment. It required several campaigns to destroy the 
kingdom of the Avars on the middle Danube. The Slavs 
between the Elbe and the Oder were subjugated by Karl, 
and Bohemia was compelled to pay him tribute. Toward 
the end of his reign the Norsemen troubled the northern 
frontier. The Mohammedans in Spain Karl drove beyond 
the Ebro, and his fleets contended with the naval forces 
of the Mohammedans on the Mediterranean Sea for the 
possession of Sardinia, Corsica, and other islands. In the 
south of Italy his troops even came into conflict with the 
army of the Greek Emperor, but there was little fighting 
between them. Fortunate in all his wars, Karl succeeded 
in extending his boundaries in all directions. It was this 
series of splendid conquests which laid the foundations 
for the renewal of the Empire and the imperial title in the 
west. 

The west, as we have seen, had for a long time been 
practically separated from the Empire. Yet the idea still 
prevailed that there must be an Empire ; that it was nec- 
essary to the existing order of things ; that without an Em- 



The Franks 57 



pire the world could not stand. The Church had striven 
to become universal, and by insisting on ecclesiastical unity- 
had helped keep alive the idea of political unity. The 
Bishops of Rome had recognized the Emperor at Constan- 
tinople as their lord ; but during the eighth century a quar- 
rel had arisen and the Popes had thrown off their allegiance 
and were looking for a protector elsewhere. The great 
power of the Frankish kingdom and its close alliance with 
the Bishops of Rome were the conditions without which 
the revival of the Empire in the west would have been im- 
possible. 

There was in Rome a party which was laboring for The republi- 
the independence of Rome and the revival of her ancient RlJme?^^^ ^" 
power. They were beginning to dream the dreams which 
troubled the Middle Age so much, dreams about restoring 
the Rome of the ancient republic, and making her once 
more the head of the world. In their way, however, was 
the Pope, who was trying to govern Rome in a more or less 
autocratic manner. In 798 this party organized a revolt, 
maltreated Leo III., preferred charges of perjury and adul- 
tery against him, and drove him from Rome. He fled to Karl 
the Great and begged to be restored. Karl sent him back to 
Rome under the protection of his officials, and himself fol- 
lowed later. He compelled Leo to take an oath that he was 
innocent of the crimes with which he was charged, and then 
reinstated him in his office. On Christmas-day, 800, while 
Karl was kneeling in the church of St. Peter at Rome, the 
Pope, without a word of warning, placed the imperial crown Coronation of 
on his head and did him reverence; and all the people present 
shouted and hailed him Emperor. Karl was taken wholly 
by surprise. He was indeed striving to obtain the crown, 
but he wished to get it in a legitimate way, either by mar- 
rying Irene, Empress in the east, or by getting her to rec- 
ognize him as her colleague and Emperor in the west. He 



Karl (800). 



58 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Grounds for 
the revolt. 



Karl the only 
candidate in 
the west. 



was, in fact, turning both plans over in his mind when his 
coronation by the Pope forestalled him and cut across his 
schemes and, worst of all, made him in his own eyes a 
usurper. He knew that the Pope had no legal right to give 
him the crown. It was an act of open rebellion against 
the Emperor at Constantinople, although one for which the 
Pope thought he had good and sufficient grounds. The 
Emperors had for many years not done their duty to the 
western Church and especially to the Popes. By force of 
circumstances the Emperor was limited in his activities al- 
most wholly to the east, while the Pope's interests and au- 
thority were limited to the west. Whenever the Emperor 
had interfered in the west, it had generally been to the 
disadvantage of the Pope; small wonder, then, that he 
was ready to revolt and transfer his allegiance to another. 
Added to this was the fact that the east was smirched with 
the heresy of hostility to the use of images. The west was 
shocked, too, that for the first time in its history the throne 
was held by a woman ; and not only was the sovereign a 
woman, she was also guilty of inhuman cruelty, for she had 
deposed, imprisoned, and blinded her son, Constantine VI. 
The action of the Pope fell in with the prevailing desire of 
the people of Rome to restore their city to the place of 
honor which she had once had, but which was now held by 
Constantinople. 

There were good reasons why Karl should be elevated to 
this high position. By conquest he had built up an Em- 
pire which included all the west of Europe ; he had in cer- 
tain directions even extended the boundary of the Empire, 
and had everywhere established, protected, and promoted 
the Church, and preserved order and peace ; he was, there- 
fore, the only possible candidate the west had to offer. 
The Pope had also a selfish motive. His position in Rome 
was no longer sure. The republican party in the city had 



The Franks 



59 



driven him out once, and would do so again if the oppor- 
tunity were offered. The Pope knew that he could hold 
his place in Rome only with the aid of Karl. By being 
crowned Emperor, Karl was made responsible for the pres- 
ervation of peace and order in Rome. The Pope could 
therefore hope for Karl's support and protection, since the 
Emperor would not tolerate the independence of Rome nor 
allow the principal bishop in the west to be driven from 
his place. 

Karl's surprise and displeasure were great, but he did not 
refuse the crown. He assumed the title, at the same time 
beginning negotiations with Constantinople, looking tow- 
ard the confirmation of his newly acquired honor ; but 
the Emperors in the east were for a long time inexorable. 
They refused him all recognition and heaped insults upon 
him ; Karl, however, preserved a conciliatory attitude, and 
finally obtained what he so earnestly desired. In 812 he Karl obtains 
was greeted as Imperator and Basileus by the ambassadors onhe"eastern 
of the eastern court. The defect in his title was thereby ^°^^^ ^^^^^' 
removed, and Karl troubled himself no further about Con- 
stantinople. 

The coronation of Karl was, as has been said, a rebel- 
lious, and therefore an illegal, act. Although Karl contin- 
ued to recognize the existence of the Emperors at Con- 
stantinople, the people in the west believed that they were 
deposing the eastern line and restoring the supremacy of 
the west. In their lists of Emperors the name of Karl 
directly follows that of Constantine VI. It was, and they 
meant that it should be, a revolt. At the time there was 
no attempt made to give a legal explanation of it or to 
make any theory about it ; but later three legal theories Three 
were advanced by different parties, each of which wished 
to make capital out of the event. 

The imperial party declared that Karl had won the 



6o A Short History of Mcdiceval Europe 

crown by his conquests, and was indebted to no one for it 
but himself. This theory was based on truth, for Karl had 
conquered great territories, and but for this would not have 
been even thought of for Emperor. The Papal party said 
that the Pope, by virtue of his power as successor of the 
Apostle Peter, had deposed the Emperor at Constantinople 
and conferred the crown on Karl. This was based on the 
fact that the Pope actually crowned Karl ; but at that time 
no one supposed for a moment that the Pope was crown- 
ing him by virtue of any such power. Such an interpreta- 
tion was not thought of till long after. The people of 
Rome also advanced a theory to the effect that they had 
elected Karl, and that they had revived their ancient right 
of electing the Emperor. This theory had in its favor lit- 
tle more than the fact that the people had sanctioned the 
action of their leader by their shouts and acclamations. 

Such was the famous restoration of the Empire in the 
west, a most important act, because of the great influence 
it had on the later history. It bound Italy and Germany 
together in a union which, while it had its compensations, 
was, on the whole, ruinous to both, at least politically. 
In consequence of this coronation of Karl, for seven hun- 
dred years the German Emperors were unable to free them- 
selves from the idea that they must rule Italy. They were, 
consequently, continually wasting their strength in useless 
campaigns in Italy, instead of extending Germany to the 
east, the only direction in which there was possibility of 
success. They wore themselves out in Italy, but were never 
able to unite Germany. The best days of her best Em- 
perors were spent on Italian soil, and the political unifica- 
tion of Germany was made impossible until our own times. 

The coronation of Karl greatly increased his prestige, 
and, indirectly, his power. "Emperor" was far more 
than ''king," and brought with it many more duties and 



The Franks 6i 



obligations. Karl regarded himself as much exalted by Karl's concep- 
the new office. The Emperor was supposed to hold his oftk^ ^^ 
office directly from God, to whom alone he was responsible 
for everything he did. This is apparent from some of 
Karl's measures for governing. Shortly after his corona- 
tion he compelled all his subjects to take a special oath to 
himself as Emperor. The peculiarity of this oath was that 
all were required to swear that they would live not only as 
good citizens, but also as good Christians. The Emperor 
was responsible for the Christian lives of his subjects. This 
is characteristic of the way in which Church and State were 
mingled under the Karlings. 

For carrying on the government of his vast territory Karl's govem- 
Karl had to invent new forms and adapt old ones. He 
held Mayfields according to the old German custom, but it 
was impossible for all his subjects to attend them. Large 
numbers of them came, however, especially because the 
campaigns were planned in these meetings, and it was ex- 
pected that the armies would proceed at once to the war. 
He divided his territory into counties and placed over each 
a count (Graf). In the west the cities with the surround- Counts, 
ing country formed these counties ; in the east they were 
formed by the old tribal boundaries, while on the frontiers 
new districts were organized (marches or Markgrafschaften) 
and placed under border counts. The counts were held 
responsible for the administration of the government in 
their counties. They were by no means independent, but 
were Karl's assistants. 

The dukes and duchies of Aquitaine, Alamannia, Sax- Dukes 
ony, and Bavaria disappeared, because they were too strong '^''^PP^'^^- 
a menace to the unity of the Empire. Only the dukes of 
Benevento, Brittany, and Gascony remained, and they were 
simply Karl's officers and not independent. 

In order to put a check on all the officers of his realm, 



62 A SJiort History of Mediceval Europe 



Missi 
Dominici. 



Karl's per- 
sonal govern- 
ment. 



His military 
system. 



and to control them, Karl sent out special commissioners, 
called ''Missi Dominici," or royal messengers, whose duty 
it was to oversee all that was done by the local ofificers. 
They were to inquire into the conduct of all officials, and 
of the clergy as well. Appeals were made to them, and 
any misconduct on the part of any officer was reported to 
them. They were generally sent out two by two, one of 
them being a clergyman. They looked after the condi- 
tion of the army, the collection of the taxes, the state of 
the churches and schools, the morals of the clergy, and the 
administration of justice as well as of things in general. 
In this way Karl was kept fully conversant with the affairs 
of both Church and State throughout his kingdom. The 
clergy were also regarded as officers of the state, and they 
had certain civil duties. They and the counts were sup- 
posed to work together in harmony, and mutually to assist 
each other ; but there were at bottom the same unsettled 
relations between the clergy and the counts as between the 
Emperor and the Pope ; the authority, rights, and duties 
of each were not clearly defined. 

Karl himself by his own personal efforts gave unity to 
the whole government and did much of the actual work. 
He was busy moving from one part of the realm to an- 
other, fighting, administering justice, conducting trials, 
settling difficulties, and, in general, keeping the machinery 
of government in motion. 

His military system did not differ from that of his prede- 
cessors. At his summons all his free subjects were supposed 
to come prepared to begin a campaign. But the frequency 
of his wars and their great distance from home made them 
very burdensome, and many now began to try to escape 
military service. A compromise was effected by which a 
certain number of men were allowed to equip one man and 
send him as their representative. Karl also built a fleet to 



The Franks 63 



guard the coast, and especially the mouths of rivers, which 
latter he often fortified. 

As a lawgiver he was also active, although there is little Karl as law- 
that is remarkable in his legislation. He tried to pre- ^^^^'^^ 
serve the old German laws and customs, which he now 
caused to be reduced to writing. His own laws are a 
curious mixture of German, Roman, and biblical elements. 
Since his Empire was Christian, the Bible was the very 
highest authority, and all laws were to be in harmony with 
it. It did indeed color much of his legislation. 

As a builder Karl achieved a great reputation. He built As builder, 
many churches, the principal one of which was the church 
at Aachen, in which he was buried. He built a great 
palace for himself at Aachen, another at Ingelheim, near 
Mainz, and another at Nijmegen. He also built a bridge 
over the Rhine at Mainz, but it was destroyed by fire be- 
fore his death. His architects were mostly Italians. Many 
pillars and other building materials were brought from Italy 
at incredible expense and labor. The style of his architect- 
ure was undoubtedly a derived Byzantine, for the buildings 
of Ravenna were his models. 

Probably the most remarkable of all Karl's activities was His attitude 
his educational work. He drew to his court some of the 



most learned men of his day, among them Alcuin, Paulus 
Diaconus, Peter of Pisa, and others. He formed his court 
into a palace school (Scola Palatina), all the members of 
which assumed either classical or biblical names. Karl 
called himself David. The sessions of this school were held 
mostly in the winter, because in the summer Karl was en- 
gaged in his wars. His learned men gave lectures, and 
there were many discussions of the subjects broached. The 
clergy of the Empire were, on the whole, very ignorant, 
many of them too ignorant to preach, and Karl caused a 
volume of sermons to be prepared for their use. He estab- 



ing. 



64 A Short History of MedicBval Europe 



Effects of this 
" Revival of 
Learning." 



Karl a Ger- 
man. 



lished cathedral schools, the most prominent of which were 
at Rheims and Orleans, and monastery schools, such as those 
of St. Gall, Tours, Reichenau, Fulda, Hersfeld, Corvey, 
and Hirschau. These were especially for the clergy, but 
they were open to all who might wish to enter. In fact, 
Karl had thoughts of a state system of public instruction. 
Karl was also greatly interested in the study of music. He 
asked the Pope to send him priests who could give instruc- 
tion in the style of singing practised in Italy. Two schools 
of music were established by him, one at Metz, the other at 
Soissons. The organ was introduced into Gaul about this 
time and was cultivated by Karl. 

This manifold activity amounted to a real revival of learn- 
ing, which bore fruit in the ninth century in the great dis- 
putations about foreordination and transubstantiation, as 
well as in the literature of that period. The great emphasis 
placed on classical Latin had some very important effects. 
In the first place, it purified the Latin of the Church, but 
at the same time widened the chasm between the spoken and 
the written Latin. The spoken Latin had now become a 
dialect, very different from the written language and im- 
possible to purify. This vulgar speech was the beginning 
of the French language, and its development and use as a 
literary language was hastened by the revival of classical 
Latin. Not only the French but also the other Romance 
languages were gradually developing. The interest in the 
classics led to the multiplication of manuscripts and the pres- 
ervation of the works of Latin authors which would other- 
wise have perished, and it also determined that the Latin 
should be the language of education during the Middle Age. 

Karl also loved his own tongue, the German. He caused 
a grammar of it to be made, attempting thus to make of it 
a literary language by reducing it to regular forms. He 
made a collection of the German songs and legends which 



TJie Franks 65 



were probably the earliest forms of some of the stories in 
the '' Nibeliingen Lied," but his son Ludwig, to our great 
loss, had this destroyed because of its heathenism. 

The attitude of Karl to the Church has already been Karl and the 
shown. He regarded it as his special duty to defend the "^^ ' 
Church and to extend it by converting the heathen. The 
motive of many of his wars was quite as much religious as 
political. He took care that the conquered lands should 
be supplied with churches and clergy. He regarded him- 
self as the master of the Church by virtue of the office which 
he held. He controlled the election of bishops and Arch- 
bishops, and sometimes even appointed them. The organ- 
ization of the Church, begun in a systematic way by Boni- 
face, was largely completed by him. He exercised the right 
of calling ecclesiastical councils, presided over them, and 
signed the decrees, which would otherwise have been in- 
valid. Under him the Church had no independent power 
of legislation. The clergy, as well as the laymen, were 
subject to the laws of the Empire. Karl was the first to 
make the payment of tithes obligatory. During the first 
seven centuries of the Church, the tithe was practically un- 
known, being at that time only the traditional and custo- 
mary rent paid for the use of lands. Karl tried to make 
this payment binding on the lands which he conquered, 
especially on the Saxons. This tenth was paid for the sup- 
port of the Church, and this fact brought about a change in 
the conception of it. It was then identified with the tithe 
of the Old Testament, and in time made compulsory through- 
out all Christian countries. 

But Karl's authority over the Church extended still 
farther. He claimed to have the right to determine the 
polity, ritual, and even the doctrines of the Church. In 
787 the Empress Irene called a council to meet at Nicaea 
which should settle the question of the use of images in the 



66 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

churches. This council, under the protection of Irene, de- 
clared in favor of their use and sent its decrees or decisions 
to Pope Hadrian (772-95). Hadrian, who had all the 
time favored the use of images, was pleased with the de- 
cisions, sanctioned them, and sent them to Karl and asked 
him to publish them. But Karl was of a different opinion, 
and calling a council of his bishops in 794, he caused the 
action of the council at Nicaea to be refuted. The refuta- 
tion (the Libri Carolini) was sent to Pope Hadrian with a 
reprimand, and a command that in the future he should 
wait in all such matters until Karl had given his consent. 
In another letter he reminded the Pope that it was his 
special duty to pray, and not to interfere in the affairs of 
state, which belonged to the Emperor alone. Karl's au- 
thority over the Pope is seen even more clearly in the case 
of Leo ni., who was compelled to clear himself before Karl 
of the charges made against him. Karl undoubtedly was, 
and was regarded, as the highest authority in the west ; 
distinctly superior to the Pope in all political matters, and 
practically so in ecclesiastical affairs. There was no legal 
determination of the mutual relations and powers of the 
Emperor and the Pope, for the theoretical question was not 
yet broached. Both Emperor and Pope made claims 
which were mutually opposed and conflicting, but there 
was no theoretical treatment of the question of their re- 
spective rights and authorities. The Pope claimed to be 
the successor of St. Peter, the Bishop of the whole Church, 
and therefore he must have authority over the whole 
Church ; but Karl was the Christian Emperor, the ruler of 
the world with absolute authority. The adjustment of 
these claims was not to be reached till after centuries of 
struggle for supremacy. 

In Karl is found that peculiar fusion of German, Roman, 
and biblical elements which characterizes the Middle Age. 



TJie Franks 6y 



In his dress, speech, manners, and sympathies he was a 
German, but judging him by his notions and practice of 
government he was a Roman, largely affected by biblical 
conceptions and ideas. He was a Roman Emperor who 
attempted to estabhsh a theocracy. He was absolute mas- 
ter of the west, and his reputation was so great that his 
friendship was sought even by the great Khali f, Haroun-ar- 
Raschid, of Bagdad, who wished to see his rebellious Sara- 
cen subjects of Spain punished. 

His counsellor and private secretary, Einhard, has left Einhard's 
us a lively picture of Karl.^ Without doubt he was one of ^°srapiy. 
the greatest men of all time. No one else has more thor- 
oughly taken hold of the imagination of the people. For 
centuries after his death the popular imagination was busy 
with his name and deeds, and the impression which he 
made on the world found expression in a vast cycle of le- 
gends, all of which were confidently believed during the 
Middle Age. 

He died January 28, 814, at Aachen, from pleurisy, and 
was buried the same day in the great church which he had 
built. '' A gilded arch was erected above his tomb, with 
his image and an inscription. The words of the inscription 
were as follows : ' In this tomb lies the body of Karl the 
Great and Orthodox Emperor, who gloriously extended the 
kingdom of the Franks and reigned prosperously for forty- 
seven years. He died at the age of seventy, in the year of 
our Lord 814, the seventh indiction, on the 28th day of 
January.' "^ 

1 A good translation of this is published by Harper & Brothers in their 
School Classics, 
a Einhard, page 71. 



CHAPTER V 

THE DISMEMBERMENT OF THE EMPIRE 

Karl had indeed acquired a vast Empire and by his 
great personal abihty governed it well. But he could not 
in so short a time make the various peoples who composed 
his realm homogeneous. A common religious. faith and a 
common government were not sufficient to overcome the 
differences which existed in race, tribe, temperament, cus- 
toms, and language. As soon, therefore, as Karl's com- 
manding personality was removed, these differences began 
to show themselves. Karl had made a brilliant attempt to 
reorganize society after the model of the Roman Empire. 
Causes of dis- He failed, and his kingdom went to pieces because of the 
weakness of his successors, under whom lands, office, and 
authority were usurped by their officials. Another cause 
was the actual partition of the Empire among the sons in 
the royal family ; the Empire being regarded as a private 
possession and divided among the heirs ; the disinte- 
gration was further brought about by the racial differences 
that existed in the realm, and by the forces set in opera- 
tion by the invasion of the Barbarians. The Germans 
were intensely ambitious and proud. Individualism was 
one of their most prominent characteristics. In the then 
existing state of society the only legitimate exercise of abil- 
ity and ambition was in the practice of arms. Since this 
was the only way to rise, it is not surprising that we should 
now come upon a period of violence and lawlessness in 
which might determined everything. Although Karl's 



The Dismemberment of the Empire 69 

realm went to pieces, during his reign its various parts had 
all been subjected to influences which modified their future. 
The dissolution of the Empire made rapid strides under 
Karl's son Ludwig the Pious (814-40), a prince who lacked Ludwig the 
all the qualities which made his father great. His educa- ^°"^ 
tion had been entrusted to the clergy with most unfortu- 
nate results. He was better fitted for the monastery than 
the throne, and more than once actually wished to lay 
down his crown and enter the cloister. His conscience 
was abnormally developed and thoroughly morbid. Petty 
faults he magnified into great sins, and he was continually 
doing penance when he should have been attending to the 
affairs of state. He altogether lacked the sterner qualities 
necessary for governing in a time of violence and barbar- 
ism. Being without will and purpose he was the slave 
in turn of his wife, his clergy, and his sons. Karl the 
Great, about six months before his death, had crowned His threefold 

Tj. 1- /-\i- -Tj' coronation. 

Ludwig as his successor. On his accession Ludwig re- 
peated the coronation, placing the crown upon his OAvn 
head. In 815 Pope Leo HL died, and the people of 
Rome at once elected his successor, Stephen IV., without 
asking the consent or sanction of Ludwig, an insult and 
infringement of his prerogatives which the Emperor did 
not resent. The Pope followed up the advantage thus 
gained, and told the Emperor that his coronation was in- 
valid because it had not been performed by the clergy, and 
proposed to come into France and recrown him. Again 
Ludwig yielded, and was crowned a third time by Stephen 
IV., at Rheims (816-17). Another precedent was thereby 
established for the claim made by the Popes that they alone 
had the right to crown the Emperor. 

The record of the reign of Ludwig is full of stupid blun- 
ders. In his zeal for reform he drove from his court the 
able counsellors of Karl the Great, because their lives did 



70 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

not seem to him sufficiently ascetic. He released nearly all 
the monasteries of his realm from all duties to the state ex- 
cept that of praying for the welfare of the Emperor, his 
children, and the state, thus depriving the crown of a large 
income, and fostering in the Church the idea of separation 
and independence. He closed the monastery schools to the 
laity, was lavish in his gifts to both monasteries and churches, 
and was always surrounded by monks and priests. In 817 
he committed the unpardonable blunder of dividing his 
Empire among his three sons and associating them with him- 
self in the government. The division led to jealousies, in- 
trigues, and war. Instead of boldly facing the problems and 
difficulties that beset him, Ludwig spent his time in doing 
penance, and offended against the dignity of his office by 
appearing in the garb of a penitent before a great council 
of the clergy and nobility, and making humble confession of 
imaginary sins. Yielding to the importunities of Judith, 
his second wife, he deprived two of his sons by his first wife 
of some of their territory in order to make a principality foi 
his youngest son, Charles. Revolt and war were the result, 
and the last years of his life were filled with the most dis- 
graceful intrigues and treachery. 

A new division of his kingdom was several times at- 
tempted, in the hope that all the sons might be satisfied. 
It was all in vain, however, for when Ludwig died (840), 
the three sons who survived him continued their fratricidal 
wars for three years before they could agree upon any di- 
vision of the territory. Finally, the brothers came together 
and settled their long quarrel by the treaty of Verdun (843). 
The treaty of According to the terms of this famous treaty, Lothar re- 
Verdun, 843. ^aii-^ejj ti^e imperial crown. As Emperor he must have the 
two capitals, Rome and Aachen. He therefore received 
Italy and a strip of land extending from Italy to the North 
Sea. This strip was bounded on the east by the Rhine, but 



TJie Disinemhcrnient of the Empire 7 1 

at Bonn the line left the river and ran north to the mouth 
of the Weser. The western boundary line began some miles 
west of the mouth of the Rhone, but reached that river near 
Lyon ; it then followed the Rhone and the Saone to the 
source of the latter ; thence to the source of the Meuse, which 
seems to have formed the boundary as far as the Ardennes. 
The line then ran to the Scheldt, which it followed to its 
motith. Charles received all the territory west of this strip. 
Ludwig obtained all the land to the east, with the dioceses 
of Mainz, Worms, and Speier, which lay west of the Rhine. 

Charles and Ludwig had the best of it in this division, 
because their territory was compact and each was mas- 
ter of a single nationality. The subjects of Ludwig were 
all German, while those of Charles were mixed, indeed, but 
rapidly becoming homogeneous. The German element was 
being assimilated by the Keltic. But Lothar's subjects were 
of many nationalities. Besides, his territory lay in such a 
way that it could not easily be defended. It is significant 
that his kingdom could be named only after himself and not 
after any people. It was known as the kingdom of Lothar, 
while Charles was called king of the Franks, and Ludwig 
king of the Germans. The history of Germany and of 
France as separate nations begins with 843, but geographi- 
cally and racially it was impossible that the kingdom of 
Lothar should hold together. The Alps broke it into two 
parts; Italy might perhaps be made into a nation, but the 
narrow strip along the Rhine, from the Alps to the North 
Sea, was fated to be broken into many fragments and fought 
over for centuries by the French and the Germans. 

Lothar was powerless against the violence that prevailed 
during the ninth century, and, Avorn out, divided his terri- 
tory among his three sons and withdrew into a monastery, 
where he soon afterward died (855). His eldest son, 
known as Ludwig 11. , received Italy and the imperial title ; 



72 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



The family of 
Lothar be- 
comes extinct; 
his kingdom 
divided. 



The Reign of 
Ludwig the 
German. 



Charles's portion was Provence and Burgundy ; while Lo- 
thar II. obtained Friesia, Austrasia, and all the remaining 
lands north of the Alps. From him this territory took the 
name of Lotharingia (Lorraine). The three brothers could 
not, however, live together in peace. They were in con- 
stant feud with one another till 863, when Charles died, 
and the other two divided his territory between them. 

In 869 Lothar II. died, and his uncles, Charles the 
Bald, king of the West Franks, and Ludwig the German, 
after some struggle, divided his land. In 875 the Emperor, 
Ludwig II., died, and with his death this branch of the fam- 
ily became extinct. The rivalry between Charles the Bald 
and Ludwig the German culminated in a war for the pos- 
session of the imperial crown. Charles was the first to reach 
Italy, and was crowned at Pavia king of the Lombards, 
and a short time afterward Emperor, by the Pope at Rome. 

Ludwig the German was unable to take the field in per- 
son against his brother. He was old and feeble, and death 
overtook him the next year (876). His long reign, al- 
though greatly disturbed by the revolts of his sons and the 
invasions of the Northmen and Slavs was, on the whole, 
fairly successful. It was of the very highest importance 
that the various German tribes should be brought to feel 
their unity and that a national feeling should be produced 
among them. It was during his reign that the East Franks 
(Franconians), Saxons, Suabians, and Bavarians came to 
feel that they were much alike, and that they differed from 
the Franks of the west. He extended his boundaries by 
chastising and reducing the rebellious Abotrites and Sorbs, 
Slavic peoples to the northeast, and a great many of the 
Bohemian and Moravian tribes. He was successful in pun- 
ishing the Northmen and resisted their invasions, although 
he could not prevent the destruction of Hamburg, which 
Ludwig the Pious had made the seat of an Archbishop. 



TJie Dismemberment of the Empire 73 

In consequence of this calamity the archbishopric of Ham- 
burg was added to that of Bremen. 

Regarding the kingship as his private property, Ludwig 
the German divided his kingdom among his three sons ; 
but Karhiian died in 880, and Ludwig, known as the 
Saxon, in 884, leaving as sole ruler their brother, Karl the 
Fat, who had been crowned Emperor by the Pope in 882. 

At the death of Ludwig the German (876), Charles the Charles the 
Bald, true to his character, tried to seize his territory, but ^ ' ^^ ''^' 
was unable to do so. At the same time the Northmen in- 
vaded his kingdom. Without trying to meet them in the 
field, he bribed them to attack his nephews, and set off for 
Italy because he thought his imperial crown in danger by 
a revolt there. He died, however, on the journey, at the 
foot of the Mont Cenis pass. The favorite son of his 
father, he had been the cause of the wars that filled the 
last years of Ludwig the Pious. Ambitious and grasping, 
he had begun several wars during his reign for the purpose 
of unjustly depriving some of his relatives of their posses- 
sions. In striving to extend his territory, he neglected 
what he already possessed. His officials ruled as they 
pleased, and the Northmen and Saracens ravished his ter- 
ritory almost unhindered. He did little more than squan- 
der the resources of his kingdom. His son, Louis II. the 
Stammerer, succeeded him ; but after a short, though 
promising, reign died (879), leaving two sons, Louis III. 
and Karlman, and a posthumous son, afterward known as 
Charles the Simple. The death of Louis III. (882) and 
of Karlman (884) practically left the throne vacant, since 
Charles the Simple was only five years old. Rather than 
trust to a mere child, the nobles offered the crown to Karl Karl the Fat, 
the Fat, who, by accepting it, united under himself all ss^Sj!^'^' 
the territory which had once been ruled over by Karl the 
Great. He was, however, not equal to the task. Besides 



^4 ^ SJiort History of Mcdicevat Europe 



being very corpulent he was afflicted with chronic headache, 
which incapacitated him both for thought and action. His 
inefficiency led to his deposition (887), and the Empire 
The little rapidly broke up into small kingdoms. His nephew, Ar- 

kingdoms. ^^^^^ ^^^io deposed him, received as his reward the kingdom 
of the East Franks ; the nobles of the West Franks elected 
Odo, count of Paris, king, while the duke of Aquitaine 
took Charles the Simple to his court and remained inde- 
pendent of Odo. 

Burgundy was divided into two kingdoms. In 879 
count Boso, of Vienne, had usurped the royal title and 
made himself master of lower Burgundy. Count Rudolf 
now seized upper Burgundy and succeeded in getting him- 
self crowned king. His territory was bounded approxi- 
mately by the Saone and by the Aar, and extended from 
Basel to Lyon. These two little kingdoms remained sepa- 
rate till 934, when they united to form the kingdom of 
Burgundy or Aries. In Italy there were also two kingdoms 
formed. Berengar, margrave of Friuli, was elected king of 
the Lombards and crowned by the Archbishop of Milan ; 
but Guido of Spoleto made war on him, got possession of 
the western part of Lombardy, and assumed the title of king. 
Disintegration The breaking up of the Empire into these little kingdoms 
shows how thoroughly power and authority had been dissi- 
pated and decentralized during the ninth century. Feu- 
dalism had got a strong hold on Europe. Offices and 
lands which had once been held at the will of the king had 
been usurped, and had become hereditary possessions of 
their holders. Violence was everywhere ; the more power- 
ful nobles oppressed the weaker, and all united to enslave 
the freemen. The chaos of the times was due to the weak- 
ness and inefficiency of the rulers, who, for the most part, 
neglected their first and most important duties to chase 
after the shadows of empty titles. 



and violence. 



CHAPTER VI 

POLITICAL HISTORY OF FRANCE, 887-II08 

Odo, the newly elected king of France, was the best Odo king, 
choice that could have been made by the Frankish nobles. "^ ' 
He surpassed them all in valor, was noted for his just and 
upright character, and, of all their number, had the largest 
landed possessions. His popularity was greatly increased by 
that of his father, Robert the Strong, who lost his life in re- 
sisting the invasion of the Northmen (866). But his position 
was not safe because he was only one of several great nobles, 
all of whom regarded themselves as practically his equal. 

Under the weak successors of Karl the Great the counts 
who had been the king's officers had greatly increased their 
independence, and had made their office hereditary. In 
this way there arose the powerful counts of Flanders, Poitou, 
Anjou, Poitiers, Gascony, Paris, and many others, whose 
lands came to be called the ''great fiefs." The North- The great 
men continued their invasions, but Odo was not always so 
successful in repelling them as he had been. From 893 on 
he had also to contend against the oft -renewed conspiracy 
of some of the strongest nobles to restore Charles the 
Simple to the throne. So long as he lived he successfully 
defended his title, but at last, worn out with the struggle, 
he died (898) after having named as his successor, not his 
brother Robert, who was his heir, but Charles the Simple 
(898-929). Robert did homage to Charles, and received 
the duchy of France (a strip of territory which included, 
among other cities, Paris, Tours, and Orleans). 

75 



*j6 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Charles the 

Simple, 

898-929. 



Settlement of 
the Northmen 
on the Lower 
Seine. 



Charles the Simple was in many respects an able man, 
but his too ready confidence in the promises and loyalty of 
his subjects often brought him great trouble and loss, and 
won for him the title of Simple. The invasions of the 
Northmen continued without abatement, and many of their 
bands now spent the winter in France, having taken pos- 
session of some of the districts about the mouth of the Seine 
and elsewhere. In 911 Charles offered their principal 
leader, Rolf (RoUo), the valley of the lower Seine and his 
daughter in marriage if he would settle there and become a 
Christian. They met at Clair-sur-Epte and the agreement 
was made. It proved to be a wise measure, for it was to 
the interest of Rolf and his people that the invasions should 
cease. The various bands of Northmen were soon gathered 
together under Rolf, and fresh invaders were repulsed. The 
district thus assigned to them received from them the name 
of Normandy. 

Robert of France repented that he had refused the crown 
in 899, and with two other great nobles conspired to over- 
throw Charles and make himself king. In 923 they met 
the king's forces near Soissons and defeated them, but 
Robert himself was slain. His son Hugo was unwilling 
to claim the crown, and the nobles, therefore, elected the 
son-in-law of Robert, Rudolf of Burgundy, king. By 
treachery they got possession of the person of Charles and 
imprisoned him. His wife, however, escaped with her son 
to England, where she was received by her father, king 
Eadward the Elder. For twelve years Rudolf held the 
title of king, although during the first years of his reign 
his authority was very limited, and many of the great 
nobles refused to obey him. A quarrel with some of his 
nobles finally led to a brief restoration of Charles, but he 
was again imprisoned, and died soon afterward of _star- 
vation (929). During these internaljtrpubles the Magyars 




tk 



Vx<^\ 



Political History of France yj 

(Hungarians) invaded France from both Italy and Ger- 
many, and escaped with large booty after committing 
great depredations. Lotharingia refused to accept Rudolf, 
and again became a part of Germany. 

Rudolf died (936) without children, and Louis IV. 
(d'Outremer, Transmarinus) was recalled from England 
and made king. Duke Hugo of Paris, still unwilling to 
risk all for the sake of a title which brought with it great 
difficulties but little authority, preferred rather to be the 
favorite adviser of the king, for he could thereby greatly 
increase his possessions. He was lord of Neustria, duke of 
Francia, and suzerain of Blois, Champagne, Chartres, An- 
jou, and many other counties. Louis d'Outremer married Louis 
the sister of Otto L, king of the Germans, with whom he 936-54. 
was generally on good terms, but their relations were dis- 
turbed by another attempt of Lotharingia to change its 
lord. More than once he was compelled to wage war with 
his great vassal Hugo. His sudden death in 954 placed 
the crown on the head of his eldest son, Lothaire (954-86), Lothaire, 
a boy eight years old. The support of Hugo was bought 
with the duchies of Aquitaine and Burgundy, but he died 
before he had made himself master of Aquitaine. His two 
sons, Hugo Capet and Otto, inherited his vast possessions. 
Hugo Capet also followed the policy of his great father and 
tried to gain possessions in the south of Gaul. Lothaire 
was a man of ability, but he made two fatal mistakes. He 
quarrelled with the clergy, especially Adalberon, Arch- 
bishop of Rheims, and he set his heart on gaining Lotha- 
ringia, which was now a part of Germany. Consequently 
he was continually at war with the kings of Germany. 
Otto IL carried the war into France and even threatened 
Paris. Taking advantage of these hostile relations, Hugo 
Capet obtained the friendship of Otto UL, and when Lo- 
thaire turned to Germany for help he found an aUiance 



78 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Duke Hugo 
Capet elected 
king. 



The position 
of the king. 



existing between his great vassal and the German king. 
Lothaire died before the revokition came, and his son, 
Louis v., succeeded him in 986. His death, however, 
took place the next year, and there was but one Karling 
left, Charles, duke of Lower Lotharingia, a man, however, 
without power, who could not hope to obtain the votes of 
the great nobles. On the other hand, Hugo Capet had the 
support of Otto HL of Germany. He was allied by mar- 
riage to some of the most powerful counts. The clergy and 
the monasteries were on his side, because he had taken 
special pains to win them by rich donations. The Arch- 
bishop Adalberon of Rheims and the bishops of the whole 
country called the nobles together for the purpose of elect- 
ing a king, and after a clever address, in which Adalberon 
proved that Charles was not the most suitable person for 
king, and that the crown was not hereditary but elective, 
he proposed the duke Hugo Capet and recounted his virt- 
ues and qualifications. The duke was unanimously elected 
and crowned as " King of the Gauls, Bretons, Danes, Nor- 
mans, Aquitanians, Goths, Spaniards, and Gascons." 

In this way the crown came into the possession of the 
Capetians, a dynasty which was to rule France in the direct 
line for more than three hundred years (987-1328); for 
though the crown was declared to be elective, it soon be- 
came hereditary in this family. It was of the greatest in- 
fluence on the history of the line that there was never lack- 
ing a male heir, generally of mature years, able to take up 
and carry out the policy of his predecessors. There were, 
therefore, no disputed successions, no disastrous regencies, 
no troubled elections. 

The position of the new line of the Capetians had its 
points of strength and weakness. Both the Merovingians 
and the Karlings had been consecrated by the Church and 
were therefore regarded as legitimate risers. The Capets, 



Political History of France 79 

upon being hailed by the Church, were accepted by a large 
part of the nation as the true successors to those great 
houses. The king thus became, for the majority of the peo- 
ple, an absolute sovereign, a power ordained of God to rule, 
to preserve order, and to administer justice. But there was 
another class, composed mostly of the nobility, which at 
this time was living in accordance with feudal customs and Of the feudal 
ideas, and to them the king was by no means absolute. 
His authority over them and his demands on them were 
limited. They were themselves kings in their domains and 
exercised royal prerogatives. These feudal ideas and cus- 
toms the Capets were forced to recognize. The royal power 
was greatly limited, and it was only by folio wing a consist- 
ent policy and by the greatest good fortune that the Capets 
were able in the end to triumph over feudalism and to es- 
tablish a strong central government. But this was a long 
and slow process. For more than a hundred years the dis- 
integration of power and of territory went on. The Capets 
were not able to keep their officials from making their of- 
fices hereditary, and their family possessions, as well as the 
royal domain which they had inherited from the Karlings, 
were diminished by constant usurpations. Their weakness 
was greatest in the eleventh century. The twelfth century 
brought a change in their fortunes, and their power from 
that time on steadily increased. 

The reign of Hugo Capet (987-96) was quite as success- 
ful as could be expected under the circumstances. He was 
generally recognized by the great vassals, and maintained 
an independent attitude toward the German Emperors and 
toward the Papacy. Under him there was a distinct 
growth in the feeling of nationality which helped increase 
the separation between France and her neighbors, already 
caused by the differences in language and customs. 

His son and successor, Robert H. (996-1031), surnamed 



8o A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



the Pious, because of his humble and upright character and 
his regard for the truth, was none the less a warrior of 
ability, fighting vigorously for Lotharingia and adding by 
conquest several cities and districts to his estates. 

The reign of Henry I. (1031-60) was very disastrous for 
the royal power, although the king himself was both brave 
and active. He was continually engaged in a struggle 
with the nobles whose territories surrounded his own, espe- 
cially with the counts of Blois and the dukes of Normandy. 
The only outlet from his estates to the sea was the Seine, the 
lower part of which was in the possession of the Normans, 
whose numbers and warlike qualities made their duke a 
dangerous neighbor of the king. Henry I. appreciated the 
situation and made every effort to make himself master of 
Normandy. He met, however, with two severe defeats (at 
Mortemer, 1054, and Varaville, 1058) at the hands of 
duke WilHam the Bastard (1035-87), afterward known as 
William the Conqueror, the first Norman king of England 
(1066-87). 

Philip I. (1060-1108) followed the pohcy of his father 
in regard to Normandy and the other great fiefs. He was 
too young to prevent duke William from making his con- 
quest of England, but he did all he could to weaken him 
by fomenting quarrels in the family of William and by en- 
deavoring to keep Normandy and England as independent 
of each other as possible. This policy he handed down to 
his successors, who eventually were successful in it. He 
carried on, in a creditable manner, several wars with other 
great vassals, and was successful in adding certain lands to 
his possessions. He refused to go on the first crusade, re- 
sisted the claims of Gregory VH., and treated that part of 
the clergy of France which supported the Pope with a good 
deal of severity. Such conduct, now regarded as specially 
creditable to him, brought upon him the disfavor of the 



Political History of France 8 1 

chroniclers who have generally painted him in the darkest 
colors, charging him with gluttony, laziness, debauchery, 
highway robbery, and many other vices and crimes. Some 
of the charges may be true, but many of them can safely be 
set down as the inventions or exaggerations of his enemies. 
In his later years his activity was limited by his abnormal 
obesity, which amounted in his case to a disease. His 
reign, however, was not without its achievements, although 
the growing feudalism of the country daily diminished the 
actual power of the king. Feudal castles and strongholds 
were everywhere, and the king met with resistance on all 
hands. The famous castle of Montlhery was at the very 
gates of Paris, and the king was actually in danger of being 
taken prisoner by his own brigand subjects and held for a 
ransom if he ventured outside of his city without a strong 
guard. The chaos and anarchy of feudalism were at their 
height; but the reign of Louis VI. (1108-37) brought a 
change. Under him the power of the king increased, the 
lawlessness of the times was checked, order was reestab- 
lished, at least in part, and feudal customs became more 
fixed, thereby diminishing the violence that had been so 
prevalent and increasing the general security. The condi- 
tion of the country was by no means perfect, but it was of 
the greatest importance that a large amount of stability was 
introduced into the customs and practices of the govern- 
ment and of society. The kings of France possessed a 
great advantage over the kings of Germany in that they 
were allowed to retain all fiefs which fell vacant, while in 
Germany the great dukes compelled the king to relet all 
fiefs within a year. The kings of France, therefore, had an 
excellent opportunity to increase their possessions, while 
the kings of Germany were cut off from that advantage. 



CHAPTER VII 



GERMANY AND ITS RELATION TO ITALY (887-IO56) 



Arnulf, 887-99. The deposition of Karl the Fat left Arnulf in the pos- 
'^ession of the German crown (887-99). As successor of 
Karl the Great, he assumed that he was entitled to a cer- 
tain sovereignty over all the rulers of the west, and accord- 
ingly demanded and received the acknowledgment of his 
supremacy from the kings of Burgundy, Italy, and the West 
Franks. He defeated with great slaughter the Northmen 
(891), but was unable to subdue the Slavic kingdom of 
Moravia, which included much of what is now Bohemia and 
Austria. At the invitation of the Pope, Arnulf made two 
journeys into Italy for the purpose of restoring order there 
and relieving the Pope from the tyranny of his enemies, in 
return for which services the Pope crowned him Emperor 

(896). 

The reign of his son, known as Ludwig the Child (899- 
911), was fatal to the unity of Germany. The local nobil- 
ity, filled with a desire for independent power, seized 
offices and lands and made them hereditary in their own 
families. As the Empire of Karl the Great had broken up 
into many little states, so the kingdom of Arnulf fell apart 
into five great duchies, known as Franconia, Saxony, 
Bavaria, Suabia, and Lotharingia. Owing to the weakness 
of the king, certain men in these duchies were able to usurp 
authority and assume the title of duke, and were, in their 
duchies, practically independent of the king. The boun- 
daries of the duchies, following tribal lines, helped preserve 

8» 



Ludwig the 
Child, 899-911. 



Germany and its Relation to Italy 83 

and perpetuate the differences that already existed among 
these five great groups of Germans. The people of each 
duchy longed to be independent of all the others, and pre- 
ferred their own narrow interests to those of the kingdom. 

With the death of Ludwig the Child the line of Karl the 
Great came to an end in Germany, and it was therefore 
necessary to elect a king. The honor fell to Conrad I. Conrad I., of 
(91 1-18), duke of Franconia. Although able, brave, active, king, 911-18. 
and ambitious to rule well, his reign was spent in a vain en- 
deavor to make good the traditional authority of the king 
over the dukes. He allied himself closely with the clergy, 
and at a council at Altheim (916) they threatened with the 
ban all who should resist him. Political disaffection was to 
be regarded as heresy and punished in the same way. But 
even with their aid Conrad could not reduce the dukes ; 
and at his death he designated as his successor his most 
powerful rival, Henry of Saxony. 

The nobles of Saxony and Franconia came together in The Saxon 
Fritzlar and elected Henry king (called the Fowler, also the i.]"9i9-3d^^^ 
Builder of Cities, 919-36). He was a practical man, who 
saw all the difficulties of the position and was persuaded 
that a feudal kingship was the only kind now possible. The . 
days of the Karlings were gone forever. The power of the 
dukes was not to be broken ; their independence in their 
own territory was not to be questioned ; and they'were to 
be held responsible to the king only for the feudal duties 
which they recognized as due him. This feudal conception 
of the kingship was new, and radically changed the attitude 
of the king toward the clergy and the dukes, for as he meant 
to be friendly with the dukes, he did not need the special 
help of the clergy. After his election, the Archbishop of 
Mainz, as Primate of the kingdom, wished to anoint him, Henry I. and 
but Henry refused, saying that the election alwie was suffi- 
cient. 



84 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

In 924 the Magyars, or Hungarians, invaded Saxony. 
Henry was unable to meet them in the field, and therefore 
made a nine years' treaty with them, paying them a heavy 
tribute. These years Henry used to put his country into a 
Progress in good State of defence and to improve his army. His prep- 
Germany, arations are described by Widukind (i., 35) as follows: 
''He first chose one out of every nine soldiers who were 
living in the country and compelled him to live in a city 
(urbs) in order that he might build dwellings for the other 
eight and lay by one-third of all the grain produced, while 
the other eight should sow and harvest for the ninth. In 
these cities, on the construction of which they labored day 
and night, the king ordered that all trials, meetings, and 
festivals of whatever sort, should be held, in order that the 
people in times of peace might become accustomed to 
what would be necessary in time of war {i.e., to living 
together in close quarters)." Towns are mentioned which 
he fortified, such as Merseburg, Meissen, and Quedlinburg. 
There were walled towns before his time, but most of the 
Germans lived in open, straggling villages. Henry gave 
a great impulse to town life, and it was due to his activity 
that the German towns now became more numerous, and 
that in the next century there was a large and important 
citizen class. Commerce was also thereby greatly pro- 
moted. During these years of peace Henry also devel- 
oped a good army. All who did military service were 
trained in the use of arms by military sports, and a cavalry 
troop was formed. The Saxons, it would seem, up to this 
time, had fought only on foot. The new mode of fighting 
was soon to become common, since it was generally those 
who had some means who were called on to follow the 
king on his campaigns. The poorer people nearly all now 
sunk to the position of serfs or slaves and so escaped mili- 
tary service. 



Germany and its Relation to Italy 85 

Henry was successful in wresting territory from both the 
Danes on the north and the Slavs on the east. In 933 he 
refused to pay the Magyars tribute, met them in the field, 
and defeated them with great loss in several battles. The 
superiority of the improved method of defence, the walled 
towns, the cavalry, and the trained army, was now appar- 
ent. Before his death (936) he had his son Otto recog- 
nized as his successor. 

Otto I. (936-73) came to the throne with a different Otto I., 
character and with ideas about his office entirely different ^^" 
from those of his father. Henry was noted for his mod- 
esty and humility. He was practical and never strove for 
the impossible. He clearly recognized that he could not 
destroy the power of the dukes, and was therefore willing 
to recognize their independence. Otto, on the contrary, 
was proud and ambitious. He had high ideas about his 
royal rights and prerogatives. He was not content with 
the position of feudal king, but regarded himself as the 
successor of Karl the Great. The sacred character of the 
king, acquired by anointment and by the peculiar relations 
existing between himself and the clergy, had been neg- 
lected by Henry, but Otto revived it. The dukes had 
been his father's equals ; Otto determined to make them 
his officials. Henry had not relied on the clergy, because 
he was determined to be on friendly terms with the dukes ; 
Otto, on the other hand, needed the help of the clergy to 
strip the dukes of their power. The events connected with 
his election and coronation show the difference between 
his ideals and those of his father. There had been some 
dissatisfaction with Henry because of his simplicity, and 
there was now a desire that the traditions of Karl the Great 
should be revived. In accordance with this wish, Aachen, 
the ancient capital, was appointed as the place for the for- 
mal election of Otto. All the dukes and the highest nobil- 



86 



A Short History of Medicevat Europe 



His corona- 
tion. 



Otto's policy 
toward the 
Barbarians. 



The Slavs 
Christianized 
and German- 
ized. 



ity were present, and Otto was anointed and crowned with 
great pomp. Afterward he partook of the coronation ban- 
quet, at which he was served by the dukes. Duke Gisel- 
bert of Lorraine was his chamberlain, i.e., he had charge 
of the palace, Eberhard of Franconia was his steward or 
dish-bearer, Hermann of Suabia his cup-bearer, and Arnulf 
of Bavaria his marshal. 

But Otto's haughty manner angered the dukes, and they 
plotted with his ambitious brothers for his overthrow. A 
long struggle ensued, in which Otto was successful in dis- 
possessing all the dukes, and making their duchies depend- 
ent on himself by giving them to members of his own fam- 
ily. As a counterpoise to the power of the nobles. Otto 
followed the policy of strengthening the clergy by enriching 
them and conferring authority upon them.^ The clergy 
thus became a large and powerful part of the nobility. 
This policy proved to be disastrous, for in the struggle 
which came later between the Empire and the Papacy, 
the clergy of Germany turned against their benefactors and 
helped destroy them. 

Toward the Barbarians east of Germany Otto had a well- 
defined policy. In 955, on the Lech river, near Augsburg, 
he won a decisive victory over the Magyars, and put an end 
to their invasions by compelling them, after accepting Chris- 
tianity, to settle in the territory which they have ever since 
occupied (Hungary). The Slavs, too, were compelled to 
acknowledge Otto's over-lordship. As a defence against 
them several marches were established along the whole east- 
ern frontier and put under able men. 

Magdeburg was made the religious capital of the Slavs by 
establishing there an Archbishop. Mission work was vig- 
orously carried on among them, and for this purpose Otto 



JBryce : The Holy Roman Empire, Chap. VIII., develops this thought 
at some length. 



Germany and its Relation to Italy 87 

established the bishoprics of Havelberg, Brandenburg, 
Merseburg, Zeitz, Meissen, and Posen. Monasteries arose 
everywhere, and the monks became not only the mission- 
aries but also the teachers and civilizers of these barbarian 
peoples. German colonists went with the monks and clergy, 
and the process of Germanizing the Slavs was begun. To 
Otto the Great belongs the honor of having pointed out the 
direction in which Germany should expand. The way to 
the west was closed, but to the east there were extensive 
territories which could be conquered and Germanized. If 
these peoples could be kept dependent on Germany for their 
civilization and Christianity, it must inevitably follow that 
they would lose their nationality and become German. 
From this time on the expansion of Germany to the east 
among these peoples, her conquest and absorption of them, 
is one of the most important parts of her history. In this 
way all of Prussia that lies east of the Elbe was won from 
the Slavs. Bohemia and Hungary were not Germanized 
because through the weakness of the successors of Otto they 
succeeded in getting an independent ecclesiastical establish- 
ment, thereby preserving their own nationality. 

Since the coronation of Arnulf, Italy had fallen upon The condition 
evil times. She was hopelessly divided, the theatre of con- ° ^^' 
tending peoples and factions. The Greek Emperor held 
many places in the southern part of the peninsula, while the 
Mohammedans had possession of Sicily and other islands, 
and a few ports on the mainland. In Rome the Pope 
claimed to be master, but the city was the prey of factions 
among the nobility. The duchies of Benevento and Spoleto 
were practically independent. Lombardy was divided into 
a large number of insignificant principalities, whose rulers 
were all striving for the control of Italy and the royal 
or imperial crown. One of these contestants, Lothar of 
Provence, died in 950, and his widow, Adelaide, a Bur- 



factions. 



88 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

gundian princess, was seized by another claimant of the 
crown for the purpose of compelling her to marry his son. 
Disliking the proposed union, Adelaide appealed to the 
King of Germany for protection. Otto gallantly responded 
Otto's first by crossing the Alps (951) and marrying the princess him- 
kaly!^^ ° self. It was his intention to go on to Rome, but revolts 
at home made his speedy return to Germany necessary. 

During this period the Papacy was sadly smirched. 
The magnificent claims of Leo the Great to be the Bishop 
of the whole Church were now entirely forgotten in the 
chaos of contending parties. The noble families of Rome 
Roman were divided into factions, each of which strove to make 

one of its number Bishop, in order to enjoy the authority 
which that offtce possessed. The duke of Spoleto had a 
party, as did also Berengar and the other phantom kings 
who displayed their weakness in the unfortunate peninsula. 
There was a German faction and an an ti -German, one 
which objected to any interference on the part of the Ger- 
man king. The rage and violence shown by these factions 
is almost incredible. In 891 Formosus, a friend of Arnulf 
of Germany, was made Pope. Throughout his pontificate 
he was known to be an ally of the German Emperor, and 
the bitterness against him was intense. After his death 
Boniface VI. succeeded him, but died fourteen days after 
his election. The faction of Spoleto elected one of their 
partisans, Stephen VI. His hatred of the Germans was 
so great that he had the remains of Formosus exhumed in 
order to go through the forms of a trial. The body of 
Formosus was clothed in pontifical robes, placed on a papal 
throne, and charges made against him, in a synod called 
together for this purpose. The verdict was, of course, un- 
favorable, and his body was mutilated and thrown into the 
Tiber. 

From 896 to 903 there were no less than eight Popes. 



Gevjnany and its Relation to Italy 89 

The power of the feudal aristocracy is shown by the fact The Pomoc- 

ra.cv 
that the Papacy then fell under the power of Theodora, 

the wife of Constantine, a Roman senator, and her daugh- 
ters. One of them, Marozia, it is said, was the mistress of 
Pope Sergius III. (904-11), to whom she bore a child, 
later Pope John XL (931-36). In 914 Theodora raised 
to the Papacy one of her former lovers, who ruled as John 
X. (914-28). Italy was troubled by invasions of both 
Saracens and Magyars, and John X. showed his ability by 
valiantly resisting both enemies. 

Marozia had now become the wife of Alberic, margrave Marozia and 
of Camerino. He quarrelled with Pope John X., but was bands!^^^ "^" 
unable to conquer him. At Alberic's death she married 
Guido, margrave of Tuscany, and continued the struggle 
with the Pope. She was now more successful. John X. 
was overcome and died in prison (928). After setting up 
two weak Popes, Marozia then elevated her son, John XL, 
to the papal throne (931-36). On the death of her husband 
Guido, she married Hugo, who had recently been crowned 
king of Italy. Her son Alberic, however, resented this Her son 
marriage and succeeded in driving Hugo out of Rome and 
making himself the real master of the city with the title of 
''Princeps atque omnium Romanorum senator." Until 
his death in 954 Alberic held the power in Rome, not only 
over the city but also over the Popes. The writings of the 
times contain many invectives, but few charges, against 
Alberic. As a governor he had much abihty. He tried 
to ally himself with the eastern Emperor, and he was inter- 
ested in the Cluniac reform to such an extent that he asked 
bishop Odo of Clugny to restore the discipline in, and 
reform the monasteries of, Rome. His only offence, a great 
one to be sure in the eyes of the churchmen of his age, was 
that he kept the Papacy thoroughly under his control and 
used the Pope as one of his officials. Alberic even wished 



Alberic. 



90 A SJiort History of Mediceval Eiirope 



The Papacy to 

become 

hereditary. 



Death of Otto 
I-, 973- 

Importance of 
his reign. 



to make the Papacy hereditary in his family. His son Oc- 
tavian, a boy of sixteen years, succeeded him in authority, 
and a year later was made Pope. He took the title of John 
XII. (955). His pontificate was disgraceful in the extreme, 
and he shocked the city with his mad pranks and open 
debauchery. Both he and the people of Lombardy are 
said to have appealed to Otto for protection against the 
tyranny of the usurper. At any rate, Otto again appeared 
in Italy, and after being crowned Emperor (962), spent 
several months in renovating the Papacy and restoring 
order. The people of Rome took an oath to him that they 
would never elect a Pope without first consulting him. 

Under Otto the Great Germany was made the first 
power in Europe. In 973 he celebrated Easter at Quedlin- 
burg, and held there a great assembly, where he received 
embassies from Rome, Constantinople, from the Hungari- 
ans, Bulgarians, Russians, Slavs, and Danes. The dukes 
of Bohemia and Poland came in person to do him homage. 
A few days later he died at Memleben, and was buried in 
Magdeburg, his favorite city. 

The reign of Otto the Great is an important one in the 
history of the civilization of Germany, It has already been 
stated that he allied himself wdth, and strengthened, the 
clergy in order to resist the dukes, but while using them in 
this way. Otto did not lower their tone. His bishops and 
Archbishops were all men of ability and genuine piety. His 
reign is noted for a revival in both religion and learning. 
Several members of his family occupied high positions in 
the Church; Bruno, his brother, became Archbishop of 
Cologne; one of his sons, William, was Archbishop of 
Mainz, his uncle, Robert, bishop of Trier ; other relatives 
became prominent bishops, abbots, and abbesses. All 
these performed their duties to the Church as well as to the 
Emperor without any conflict. At the court itself no im- 



Germany and its Relation to Italy 91 

morality was tolerated. Otto surrounded himself also with 
learned men, and his age is marked by great literary ac- 
tivity. Many of the great monasteries kept chronicles. 
Some important biographies were composed, poems and 
comedies were written, among them Liutprand's History of 
Otto, the Annals of Quedlinburg, Hildesheim, and St. 
Gall, Widukind's Res Gestae Saxonicas, Ekkehard's Wal- 
thari Lied, and the historical poems and dramas of Hrot- 
suitha, a nun in the monastery of Gandersheim. Her 
" Lapsus et Conversio Theophili " is regarded as the oldest 
poetical treatment of the Faust legend of the Middle Age. 
Li the monasteries, Terence, Horace, Virgil, Sallust, and 
Cicero were read. Otto imitated also the Schola Palatina 
of Karl the Great. His brother Bruno was with him con- 
tinually, and a kind of court school was kept up. Otto 
himself tried to learn Latin, but never became able to 
speak it well. During his reign also German became a 
literary language, A harmony of the gospels was composed 
in it and a great epic poem written called the Heliand (The 
Saviour). It is a life of Jesus put into a German setting. 
It is full of German customs, manners, and ways of think- 
ing and is one of the most important sources of our 
knowledge of the condition of the German mind in those 
times. 

By receiving the imperial crown. Otto renewed the politi- Italy and Cer- 
eal bonds which had once held Germany and Italy together. 
This union was in many respects fatal to both countries. 
Instead of exerting themselves in an effort to unite Germany 
and to centralize the power, the Emperors, drawn into a 
long and fatal struggle with the Pa^^acy, wore themselves 
out in making fruitless Italian campaigns, which ended dis- 
astrously to the Hohenstaufen line. France and England 
were unified under their own kings, while Italy and Germany 
were unable to achieve political unity till in our own day. 



many united. 



92 A Short History of Mcdiceval Europe 



Otto II. 

973-83- 



otto III., 
983-1002. 



Henry II., 
the Saint, 
1002-24. 



Conrad II. 
1024-39. 



Otto II. (973-83), although able, resisted in vain the 
decadence that had begun. The Barbarians destroyed the 
system of marches on the frontier and checked the exten- 
sion of Germany to the east. Otto II. was succeeded by 
his three-year-old son, Otto III. (983-1002), who was 
brought up by his mother and tutors in the fantastical idea 
that he should restore Rome to her former greatness by 
making her the seat of his government. He made several 
journeys into Italy to restore order and reform the Papacy. 
In 996 he made his cousin Pope Gregory V., and in 999 
elevated to the Papacy his tutor, Gerbert, the most learned 
man of his age, with the name of Silvester II. Leaving 
Germany at the mercy of the nobles and the Barbarians, 
Otto III. went to Italy and took up his residence on. the 
Aventine Hill (100 1). His death the next year ended a 
reign that was as disastrous for Germany as for the imperial 
power.; 

- Henry II. (1002-24), known as the Saint, by allying 
himself closely to the clergy, and giving his attention prin- 
cipally to Germany, was able, partially, to revive the failing 
authority of the king. The work was taken up and more 
successfully prosecuted by his successor, Conrad II. (1024- 
39), duke of Franconia. He increased the royal author- 
ity in every way possible. By the bequest of the last king 
of Burgundy he inherited that kingdom (1032). He got 
possession of the duchies in Germany, and either held them 
himself or gave them to members of his family. He reduced 
Bohemia and Poland to partial subjection. He sought to 
diminish the feudal power of the great nobles by decreeing 
that their subjects owed the king military service directly 
and must come at his call. , He won the sympathy of all 
sub-vassals by declaring their fiefs hereditary and forbidding 
the great lords to dispossess them without sufficient cause. 

By increasing the territory of the Empire and strengthen- 



Germany and its Relation to Italy 93 

ing the boundaries, by attaching the smaller nobles to him- 
self and getting full possession of the duchies, Conrad II. 
laid the foundation for the prosperous reign of his son, 
Henry III. (1039-56). Although Henry III. was unsuccessful Henry ill., 
against both the Slavs and Hungarians, he was able to hold ^^^^~^ 
the turbulent nobles of Germany in check. According to 
feudal principles, everyone had the right of private war. 
Anyone who suffered violence might gather as large a force 
as he could muster and avenge himself on the offender. The 
Church had forbidden all fighting (the Peace of God) but in 
vain. The Church then ordered that there should be no 
fighting or violence done from Wednesday evening till the 
following Monday morning (the Truce of God). Henry 
III. not only sanctioned this, but assumed the right to pun- 
ish all who should in any way disturb the peace of the land. 

Unlike his father, Henry III. did not practise simony. 
He a])pointed both bishops and abbots, and was careful to 
choose only men that were worthy and able to fill the posi- 
tion. He never sold church offices. Taking up the great 
movement which had its origin in the monastery of Clugny, 
he endeavored to reform the morals and life of the clergy 
of Germany in accordance therewith. He fostered the 
schools in the monasteries and established other schools for 
laymen, attendance at which he even thought of making 
compulsory on the children of the nobles. 

Henry made two journeys into Italy (1046 and 1055), 
during the first of which he received the imperial crown. 
The Papacy had again become a city office in the hands 
of factions. Each party elected a Pope, whenever its needs 
seemed to demand such action. When Henry reached 
Italy (1046) he found three Popes claiming the office. In 
councils at Sutri and Rome he deposed all three, assumed Henry ill. 
the title of Patricius, and, declaring it was his right to name Papacy, 
the Bishop of Rome, elevated to that position Sudgar of 



94 A SJiort History of Mediceval Europe 

Bamberg, who took the name of Clement II. During the 
rest of his reign Henry three times filled the office, always 
with excellent men. In Italy he opposed simony in all its 
forms and refused to take bribes from the candidates for 
the papal throne. The Cluniac ideas were rapidly gaining 
ground, and, since Henry was in hearty sympathy with 
them, he did all he could to establish them, working har- 
moniously with the Popes and other reformers to make the 
Church what she should be. 

Henry III. wished to be an absolute master and rule in 
an autocratic way. His treatment of the nobles was espe- 
cially distasteful to them, and at his death in 1056 the op- 
portunity was offered them to regain their much-coveted 
power. He left a son, Henry IV., only six years old, who 
was no match for them. The Emperors, Henry III. not 
least, had done everything they could to make the Church 
great and powerful, believing that the clergy would always 
be grateful and true to their benefactors. Just at the criti- 
cal time, however, when Henry IV. was a mere boy and 
more than ever needed their help, they deserted him and 
supported the high pretensions of a foreigner, the Bishop 
of Rome. The Emperor had claimed and exercised the 
right to appoint the Pope. The tables were now to be 
turned and the Pope was soon to claim the authority to 
make and unmake both kings and Emperors. The fatal 
struggle between the Papacy and the Emperor for the su- 
premacy of the world was about to begin. 



CHAPTER VIII 

ENGLAND AND THE NORSEMEN (802-IO70) 

The struggle for supremacy, which lasted for three hun- 
dred years, among the small kingdoms of England, was 
practically ended during the reign of Ecgberht, who as- Ecgberht, 
cended the throne of Wessex in 802. Northumbria and 
Mercia, the two great rivals of Wessex, were worn out with 
the long wars, so that Ecgberht found it comparatively easy 
to make himself the over-lord of all the country. He had 
spent thirteen years in exile at the court of Karl the Great, 
and had no doubt learned much and had his ambitions 
quickened by what he saw of the successes of the great 
Frankish king. In his government Ecgberht showed wise 
consideration. In order to conciliate the people of Nor- 
thumbria and Mercia, who were Angles, he determined in a 
council (826) that the land should be called, not Saxony, 
although he himself was a Saxon, but Anglia. 

The supremacy which Wessex now enjoyed might have 
been as ephemeral as that of some of the other kingdoms 
but for the fact that for nearly one hundred and fifty years 
after Ecgberht its throne was occupied by able kings who 
wisely secured the assistance of the clergy in all that they 
did. The fusion of the kingdoms into one people was also 
hastened by the great common danger which now threat- 
ened them from the Northmen. As early as 787 the eastern 

coast of England had been attacked by pirates from the invasions of 

„! . -I 1 r ^ the Northmen. 

contment. Their ravages became more and more frequent, 

and the king found it difficult to defeat them or to derive 

95 



96 A Short History of Medmval Etirope 

any solid advantage from a victory over them. During 
the reign of Ecgberht they harried all the country inces- 
santly. His son and successor, Aethelwulf (839-58), was 
unable to stem the tide of invasion. In 851 they were bold 
enough to spend the winter on the island of Thanet. 

Aethelwulf was succeeded by his four sons in the order 
of their age : Aethelbald (858-60), Aethelberht (860- 
66), Aethelred (866-71), and Aelfred the Great (871- 
901). The task of defending the country against these 
barbarian invaders became more difficult as great numbers 
of them began to settle on the east coast. In 866 the 
Danes began the work of conquest and settlement in ear- 
nest. Northumbria was quickly overrun and subdued by 
them. East Anglia and the Fen were next attacked and 
conquered, their famous monasteries were burned, and the 
king of East Anglia, Eadmund, was slain. This king was 
later canonized, and over his remains was built the great 
abbey of St. Edmundsbury. Mercia was not yet attacked, 
but in 870 its king paid the Danes tribute and acknowl- 
edged their leader as over-lord. Back of this submission 
was not only fear of the Danes, but also dislike of the West 
Saxon supremacy. 

King Aethelred was left with only the territory south of 
the Thames ; all north of that river was now in the hands 
of the Danes. For some time it seemed that all England 
was to be conquered. The Danes pushed up the Thames 
and out into Wessex, and Aethelred was unable to drive 
them back. In the midst of the war he died, leaving his 
Aelfred the crown to his brother Aelfred, who tried in vain to repel 

Great 

871-901. the invaders. After several defeats, in which his army 

was destroyed, he was compelled to buy the withdrawal of 
the Danes, hoping that in the meantime he might be able 
to put the country into a proper state of defence. Re-en- 
forcements continued to come from Denmark and Scandi- 



England and the Norsemen 97 

navia, and in 876 Guthriim, the Danish king of East 
Angha, attacked Wessex. For two years the struggle 
was severe, but it ended in favor of Aelfred by the treaty 
of Wedmore (Chippenham) in 878 ; Guthrum accepted Wedmore, 
Christianity and was ceded the eastern half of England ^ ' 
north of the Thames. This territory was called the Dane- 
law. The conquerors settled as lords of the soil, and for 
a long time kept themselves separate from the conquered 
English. The fusion of the two peoples, however, came 
eventually. 

During the remaining years of Aelfred's rule he had 
peace with the Danes, except in ZZd^ when he was success- 
ful in wresting from them London and the surrounding 
districts, and again in 893, when he was also successful in 
his defence. The condition of his territory at the peace 
of Wedmore was wretched in the extreme. Churches and 
monasteries had been burned, the clergy slain or driven out, 
and law and order destroyed ; everywhere there was great 
want and desolation. His first care was to train up an Aelfred's 
army to have it ready at his call. The country was di- ^°^^^""^^"t. 
vided into five districts, each of which was bound to furnish 
a certain number of men with provisions and equipment. 
Every town also was required to do the same. A part of 
the troops raised in this way were required to be ready to 
go whenever called, while the others were to remain at 
home as a guard. A threefold duty was laid on every 
landed proprietor. He must serve in the army, and con- 
tribute to the support of bridges and fortifications (trinoda 
necessitas). Aelfred created a fleet which patrolled the 
coast and kept off the invaders. He restored order, 
punishing severely and impartially all offenders. As on 
the continent, so in England, everyone had the right of 
private war, but Aelfred enforced peace. The king's jus- 
tice also took the place of the local justice. The king also 



98 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

carefully controlled the decisions of the lower courts, and 
changed them if they were not according to his ideas. The 
independent legislation of Aelfred was probably not very 
great, but he had the laws of the Anglo-Saxon kings and 
peoples collected and reduced to writing in the Anglo- 
Saxon language. 
Learning. Aelfred labored hard to restore learning in his kingdom. 

Late in life he began the study of Latin, and mastered it so 
well that he was able to translate from it into his mother 
tongue. He surrounded himself with scholars, most of 
whom he brought from the continent, and established a 
court school very much like that of Karl the Great. His 
own translations, however, were of most value to his peo- 
ple. From the Latin he translated the '' Consolations of 
Philosophy," by Boethius ; the " History of the World," 
by Orosius; the '' Ecclesiastical History of the English," 
by the Venerable Bede ; and the '^Pastoral Rule," by 
Gregory the Great. It was under his direction, also, that 
the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" was compiled and contin- 
ued. While all these works, except the latter, are transla- 
tions, they contain also many additions from the pen of 
the king himself. Because of his moral greatness, and be- 
cause of the fact that he regarded himself as the servant 
of his people, he has been given the well-earned title 
"Great." 

The task that devolved on the successors of Aelfred was 
to prevent, if possible, any further migration from the con- 
tinent, to reconquer the Danelaw, to hasten the fusion of 
the Danes with the English, and to keep down the tribal 
revolts and make England really one. Fortunately his suc- 
cessors were all able men (Eadward the Elder, 901-24 ; 
Aethelstan, 924-40 ; Eadmund, 940-46 ; Eadred, 946- 
55), who carried on the work well. Eadwig (955-59) 
was a mere boy, and his reign was troubled by quarrels 



England and the Norsemen 99 

among the nobles. But with the accession of Eadred (946) 
had come in a new power in the person of Dunstan, who Dunstan. 
was the first of that hne of remarkable ecclesiastical states- 
men which England has produced. Under Eadred, Ead- 
wig, Eadgar (959-75). Eadward the Martyr (975-79). 
and Aethelred the Redeless (979-1016), until his death in 
988, Dunstan was much of the time the power behind the 
throne. Commerce with the continent was fostered, order 
was preserved, and the Church and monasteries thoroughly 
reformed. The old slavery was disappearing, but in its 
stead the feudal rule was becoming established. The power 
of the king greatly increased and he was looked upon as 
king of all England and not simply of the West Saxons. 
The king now developed a court composed of his friends 
and officials, who formed a new nobility over against the 
old nobility of blood. The king took possession of the 
folk land, that is, the land which had been left for the 
common use, and enriched his servants by dividing up 
much of it among them. At the same time the Folkmoot, 
the meeting of all the freemen, ceased, being replaced by 
the Witenagemot, the meeting of the wise men (i.e., the 
officials, with the highest clergy). 

The reign of Aethelred the Redeless (i.e., without coun- 
sel ; not the unready) was very disastrous. Utterly inca- 
pable of ruling, he involved England more and more deep- 
ly in ruin and misery. In 991 the Danes began to invade Renewed 
England again, and he bought a truce of them and allowed the Danes, 
them to settle in East Anglia. Other invasions followed, 
led by Olaf of Norway and Swein of Denmark. Fright- 
ened at the danger which now threatened him, Aethelred 
tried to secure the assistance of Normandy by allying him- 
self to its duke, whose sister, Emma, he married. Goaded 
to frenzy by the presence of the Danes who had recently 
come, the English planned to massacre them, and in 1002 



lOO A Short History of MedicBval Europe 

they rose and put all the Danes among them to death. 
Among the slain was Gunhild, the sister of king Swein, 
who now swore to avenge her death by taking England 
from her king. From 1003 to 1007 his army overran 
England, plundering and burning. Aethelred bought a 
truce of him, but he went on preparing for a larger inva- 
sion. In 1013 he came back, and soon had all England in 
Swein, the his power, while Aethelred was compelled to flee to Nor- 
Engfand.'"^ ^^ mandy. But Swein's rule was of short duration. He died 
the next year, and the Danish warriors chose his son Knut 
as his successor. The death of Aethelred and his son 
Knut, 1016-35. Eadmund Ironside left Knut master of all England. He 
reigned from 10 16 to 1035 with a strong hand and wisely 
over his newly acquired realm. Under him the old king- 
doms lost more and more of their character as kingdoms 
and became known as earldoms. He became a Christian 
in character as well as in name, and allied himself with the 
clergy. By renewing the laws of his predecessors and pre- 
serving English customs, he tried to make the people forget 
that he was a foreigner. He further strengthened his posi- 
tion by marrying Emma, the widow of Aethelred. He 
brought England peace, for, during his reign, the land was 
free from disturbances. Denmark, however, profited most 
by this conquest of England, for she was thereby brought 
into close contact with a nation far more civilized than 
herself, and her union with England greatly forwarded 
Christianity in all the countries of the north. The Danes 
differed from the people in England very little in blood, 
language, customs, and laws, and their settlement in Eng- 
land may be regarded as a reenforcement of German blood 
and a strengthening of the English character. 

At the death of Knut (1035) he was succeeded by his two 
sons in turn, Harold (1035-40) and Harthaknut (1040-42). 
They were, however, thoroughly barbarous and unfitted in 



England afid the Aontmen 



lOI 



TheEngHsh 
line restored. 
1042. 



every way to rule. England was again given up to vio- 
lence, and as the jjeople disliked them there was general 
joy when Harthaknut died and Eadward the Confessor 
(1042-66), son of Aethelred and Emma, came back from 
Normandy and was acknowledged as king. Tired of for- 
eign rulers the people expected great things of Eadward, 
who was in blood an Englishman. But most of his life 
having been spent in Normandy he was far more Norman 
than English. He returned -with a large following of Nor- 
mans, whom he placed in high offices, both secular and ec- 
clesiastical, greatly to the disgust and anger of the people. 

The real power in England, however, was in the hands 
of the great earl, Godwine of Wessex, whose earldom con- Earl GodTriDc. 
sisted of all the land south of the Thames. Eadward him- 
self had little ability and less energ}', and was content to 
pass his time in quiet. The two great earls of the north, 
Siward of Northumbria, and Leofric of Mercia, were kept 
buny with the affairs of their earldoms, so that Godwine 
had ample opportunity to carry out his plans. These were 
concerned with increasing the power of his own family. 
For his sons and other relatives he obtained small earldoms, 
and in 1045 strengthened himself by giving his daughter 
Eadg}1:h to the king in marriage. 

Owing to the jealousy of the other great earls and to 
a quarrel with the king Godwine withdrew to Flanders 
(105 1). The next year,, however, the English were glad 
to see him return, because the king had, in the meanwhile, 
shown even greater favor to the Nonnans. In 105 1 Will- 
iam the Bastard, duke of Normandy, visited the childless 
Eadward and is said to have received from him the promise 
of the crown of England. The court was filled with Nor- 
mans, but on the reappearance of Godwine they hastily 
fled to the continent. Among them was Robert of Ju- 
i»ieges, who had been made Archbishop of Canterbury. At 



William visits 
England. 



I02 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Harold 
promised the 
crown. 



The 

Northmen. 



his flight the high office was given to an Enghshman. This 
action offended the Pope, for, according to the papal claims, 
no Church official could be deposed except by ecclesiastical 
authority. God wine died soon after, and was succeeded 
in the leadership by his son Harold. 

Since Eadward was childless, it was necessary to deter- 
mine who should succeed him. Although not of the royal 
line, Harold was the only possible candidate. His earl- 
dom, was the largest in England. He was the right-hand 
man of the king, and he had shown tlie greatest ability 
both as a ruler and warrior. There w-as nothing to do 
but revive the old German custom of electing the ablest 
man king, and it was accordingly agreed that Harold should 
succeed his royal master. 

During his last years Eadward became even more inac- 
tive than before. The management of affairs was wholly 
in the hands of Harold, who put down a dangerous revolt 
in Wales, maintained peace and order throughout the king- 
dom, and administered the laws equitably. In England 
there was but one family which could contest the crown 
with him, that of Leofric of Mercia, and this he concil- 
iated by making Morkere, the brother of Leofric, earl of 
Northumbria, in the place of his own brother Tostig, against 
whom the Northumbrians had rebelled. On the death of 
Eadward, January 5, 1066, Harold was elected and crowned 
without opposition. 

The German tribes of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden 
were almost entirely free from Roman influence till the 
ninth century. Christianity had certainly gained no hold 
upon them. They lived in independent groups, without 
any central government. But during the ninth century 
several leaders arose in various parts, w4io united many of 
the tribes, much as Chlodwig had united the Franks in the 
fifth century. Three kingdoms were established, known 



England and the Norsemen 103 

respectively as the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and 
Denmark. Since the leaders and nobles of the conquered 
tribes were too proud to submit to a conqueror they turned 
to the sea, hoping to preserve their independence. At first 
they played the part of pirates, attacking the coasts of 
Gaul, Germany, northern Spain, and even Italy. Ascend- 
ing the rivers for many miles they robbed, plundered, and 
burned all the towns they could. They attacked monas- 
teries and churches because of the treasures which they 
were known to contain. At first these raids were made in 
the summer, and the pirates returned to their homes for the 
winter. Gradually, however, they began to spend the win- 
ter also in the countries which they were plundering. They 
seized the land and settled upon it, and these winter settle- 
ments became permanent. As their success became known 
at home they were joined by large numbers of their fellow- 
countrymen who were eager to have a share in their pros- 
perity. Terms were made with the lord of the land, and 
these unwelcome guests made themselves at home and iden- 
tified themselves with the country in which they settled. 
It was plainly to their interest that not too many Norse- 
men should join them, since their own portions would be 
thereby diminished ; they therefore resisted all further im- 
migration as well as piratical invasions by their country- 
men. 

These Norsemen possessed to a marked degree the Ger- Their 
man characteristic, adaptability. In France they became 
Frenchmen, in England, Englishmen, in Russia, Russians. 
They did not, however, lose their individuality. They 
preserved their courage, their genius for governing and 
their bodily vigor, their love of war and their thirst for 
fame. Like the Goths, when they migrated they left their 
religion at home, but not their religiousness. They ac- 
cepted Roman Christianity with a heartiness which soon 



character. 



I04 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



in ihe east. 



made them the champions of the Papacy. They rebuilt the 
burned monasteries and churches and soon became the 
most zealous pilgrims of all Europe. They had the greatest 
regard for holy places and persons, and from pirates turned 
to Christian knights. 
The Norsemen The lands to the east of the Baltic were attacked by the 
Norsemen also. About the middle of the ninth century 
they began to make settlements on the coast, and their 
leader, Rurik, succeeded in uniting the tribes of Finns, 
Lapps, Letts, and others who were scattered over what is 
now western Russia. He and his successors extended their 
power into the interior. Novgorod, on Lake Illman, and 
Kiev, on the Dnieper, became their most important cen- 
tra. For more than seven hundred years the family of 
Rurik held the kingship and ruled over a large part of what 
is now Russia. In their raids to the east and south they 
came into contact with Constantinople, from which they 
received Christianity and the rudiments of civilization. In 
the tenth century a large body of Norsemen sailed down 
the Volga and raided a part of Persia. All the way from 
the Baltic to the Black Sea the Norsemen made settlements 
along the rivers, and thus was opened up a route of travel 
.and commerce between the Scandinavian countries and 
Constantinople and the east. From the many coins of 
Bohemia, Hungary, and Constantinople, and even of the 
Khalifs of Bagdad, which have been found in Sweden, we 
must infer that this commerce was very considerable. 
Christian pilgrims from the north regarded this as the most 
convenient way of reaching Palestine, because they found 
some of their countrymen all along the route. In the 
eleventh century many Norsemen went to Constantinople 
to seek their fortunes and offer their services to the Em- 
peror, who enrolled large numbers of them in his body- 
guard. . . 



England and the Norsemen 105 

About 800 the Norsemen began to settle in the Hebrides, In the west. 
Orkneys, and Shetland Islands, which up to this time were 
occupied only by Irish monks and hermits. From these 
islands they spread to the mainland of Scotland, and in 
the course of about a hundred years all these settlements 
were united into one kingdom. In the ninth century they 
took possession of Iceland, which soon became thoroughly 
Norse. There the Norse customs and traditions were pre- 
served in greater purity and for a longer time than in their 
original home.^ In the tenth century the Norsemen settled 
in Greenland, and kept in constant intercourse with their 
mother country till the fourteenth century when they dis- 
appeared j from what cause is unknown. 

About the year 1000, Norse sailors discovered the coast 
of America, and several efforts were made to plant colonies 
there, but without success. On the east and south coasts 
of Ireland they also made many settlements, some of which 
continued to exist till far into the twelfth century. Their 
invasions of England have already been recounted, as well 
as those of France. The settlement of Rolf in the valley 
of the lower Seine (Normandy) resulted in the establish- Normandy, 
ment of a powerful duchy which soon put an end to the 
invasions from the north. Duke Rolf (911-27) and his 
successors (William Longsword, 927-43 ; Richard the 
Fearless, 943-96; Richard the Good, 996-1027; and 
Robert the Magnificent, 1027-35) r^^ed with a strong 
hand, and Normandy was soon one of the strongest as well 
as best-governed duchies of France. The laws were en- 
forced, order preserved, and the vassals kept in subjection. 
In 911 Rolf had agreed to accept Christianity, and in spite 
of occasional backslidings he and his pirates became de- 
voted adherents of the Church. Normandy was noted for 

1 Cf. the Eddas and Sagas of the Norsemen, which were written in 
Iceland. 



io6 A Short History of MedicBval Europe 

its churches, monasteries, and schools. The abbey of Bee 

was known throughout Europe because of its founder, Lan- 

franc, and its great prior, Ansehii. Robert the Magnifi- 

Wiiiiam the cent, at his death, in 1035, left only a bastard son, Will- 

?f^Normandy! ^^^^^ seven years old, to succeed him. When William 

1035-87. attained his majority and attempted to rule independently 

many of his subjects revolted. There was a bitter struggle, 

but William proved himself master of all his enemies and 

administered the affairs of his duchy with as much ability 

and firmness as any of his predecessors. 

Eadward the Confessor is said to have promised his crown 
to William, who was his cousin. Another story of still 
more doubtful authenticity relates how Harold was ship- 
wrecked on the coast of France and fell into the hands of 
William William, who compelled him to take an oath that he would 

clninis triG 

English crown, Support William's claim to the throne. When the news of 
the accession of Harold reached William he fell into a great 
rage and began to prepare to invade England and make 
good his pretensions to the crown. He is said to have 
called on Harold to keep his promise, but Harold paid no 
attention to his summons. He sent to the Pope certain 
charges against Harold, and promised, in return for the 
papal support and sanction, to put the Church of England 
under the control of Rome. Alexander H. gave William 
his blessing on these terms and sent him a consecrated ban- 
ner. The Pope further assisted him in his negotiations 
with the Emperor and the king of Denmark. William, in 
the meantime, built a fleet and collected his troops from 
every possible source. 

King Harold was threatened with a double danger on his 
accession to the throne. His brother Tostig had revolted 
and fled to Harold Hardrada, king of Denmark, whom he 
urged to invade England. Harold also learned of the 
preparations of William, but was uncertain when these at- 



1066. 



England and the Norsemen 1 07 

tacks would be made. He collected an army and patrolled 
the coasts, but since no enemy appeared his men gradually 
left and went to their homes. Suddenly Harold Hardrada 
and Tostig landed on the coast of Yorkshire, defeated the 
troops of the earls Edwin and Morkere, and took the city 
of York. King Harold hastened to the north, met the 
invaders near Stamford Bridge and utterly defeated them, King Harold 
September 25th. On the same day William landed, un- Bn^g^^°''^ 
hindered, near Pevensey, with an army of about fifty thou- 
sand men, and began to ravage the country. By forced 
marches Harold hastened to the south to meet this new foe. * 
Although deserted by the earls of Mercia and Northum- 
bria, Edwin and Morkere, he nevertheless determined to 
risk a battle without first collecting new troops and allow- 
ing his army to recuperate. On a hill, known later as The battle of 
Senlac, Harold took a strong position, and was able for 
some hours to resist the onslaught of the Normans. In the 
end, however, he was slain, his guard cut down, and the 
rest of his troops put to flight. William had won the day 
and with it the crown of England. 

William's first care was to get possession of Kent and 
Sussex, the inhabitants of which were frightened into sub- 
mission by his violence toward those who resisted him. 
He marched toward London and, hoping to overawe the London, 
city, burned Southwark. The gates, however, were closed 
against him and the people elected as their king Eadgar 
the Aetheling, a grandson of Eadmund Ironside. The 
earls of Mercia and Northumbria, Edwin and Morkere, 
were present at the election, but when William crossed the 
Thames and threatened their territories they withdrew from 
the city to look after their own interests. Seeing that re- 
sistance was hopeless the people offered the crown to Will- 
iam. He entered the city, and on Christmas-day, 1066, 
was crowned in Westminster by the Archbishop Ealdred, 



io8 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



William 
crowned, 1066. 



The land 
forfeit to 
William. 



The English 
revolt. 



The crown was his by right of conquest, but he was also 
formally elected by the people of London, and in his coro- 
nation by the Archbishop the Church set its seal upon his 
title and supplied what was lacking in the legitimacy of 
his claims. 

Thus far only the southeastern portion of England 
(bounded by a line from the Wash to Dorsethead) was 
actually in William's hands. To secure London he built a 
strong fortress, which afterward became the famous tower. 
The earls of Mercia and Northumbria submitted to him 
only nominally. In order to justify the seizure of whatever 
lands he might desire, William declared that the election 
and acknowledgment of Harold as king was an act of trea- 
son, punishable with forfeiture and death. All England 
was, therefore, guilty, and all the land was forfeited to 
William. He seized the possessions of all those who had 
borne arms against him, the rest being permitted to retain 
their lands on the payment of a fine. Otherwise there was 
for the present little change. 

In 1067 England had become so quiet that William re- 
turned to Normandy, leaving the government in the hands 
of Odo, bishop of Bayeux, now earl of Kent, and William 
Fitz-Osbern, earl of Hereford. These, however, were un- 
true to their trusts and allowed the English to be oppressed 
by the Norman nobles. This led the English to revolt, but 
William returned in the same year and put down the re- 
beUion. In the year 1068, however, a real national upris- 
ing took place. King Swein of Denmark came with a fleet 
to contest the possession of England with William. On his 
arrival in the Humber all the northern, western, and south- 
western parts of England revolted, and the king of Scotland 
came to their aid. William hastened to the Humber and 
bought the withdrawal of the Danish fleet. He then turned 
to the revolted provinces and, since they were not united, 



England and the Norsemen 109 

easily overcame them. Yorkshire especially suffered from 
his anger. So thoroughly did he devastate it that a famine 
followed which is said to have carried off more than a 
hundred thousand people^ and nearly a century passed be- 
fore the land was restored to its former state of cultivation. 
The most determined of the English fled to the Fens 
(the swampy district south of the Wash), and there offered 
brave resistance under the leadership of Here ward. Their 
destruction, however, ended all opposition, and England 
was thoroughly conquered. Scotland was next invaded and 
its king subjected. Being now in full possession, William 
set himself to keep in subjection and govern his hardly ac- 
quired kingdom. 

This Norman conquest of England had great influence on Effect of the 
the history of England not simply because of the political °^^^^^ • 
changes which William introduced. He was not only king 
of England, but duke of Normandy, and a subject of the 
king of France. He was, moreover, a devoted friend of the 
Papacy. It was, therefore, inevitable that England should 
be closely associated with the continent j the English kings, 
proud of their continental possessions, would be involved in 
the territorial struggles of the French kings ; and the claims 
of the Popes for universal dominion would the more easily 
include England. The conquest brought England again 
into intimate relations with the rest of Europe and made of 
her a continental power. 



CHAPTER IX 



THE NORMANS IN ITALY 



Southern 
Italy. 



The Normans 
get posses- 
sions in south- 
ern Italy and 
become the 
Pope's vassals. 



From the middle of the ninth century the Saracens had 
possession of Sicily, and also held many places on the main- 
land. The principal part of southern Italy, called the 
Theme of Lombardy, still belonged to the Emperor at Con- 
stantinople and was ruled by his officers. On the east coast 
these possessions extended to the north as far as Mount 
Gargano, and on the west almost to Salerno. To the north 
of this district was a large group of independent or semi- 
independent principalities, such as Salerno, Amalfi, Naples, 
Capua, Benevento, and Spoleto, which neither the Greek 
nor the German Emperor had been able to attach perma- 
nently to his interests. They spent their time in warring 
with one another, or with the garrisons of the Greeks or 
Saracens about them. They were mere political fragments, 
and their condition seemed hopelessly chaotic. 

In 1016 some Normans, returning from a pilgrimage to 
Palestine, were shipwrecked near Salerno, and the prince 
of that town asked for and received their aid in a battle 
against the Saracens. The rewards which they carried back 
home with them fired the cupidity of some of their fellow- 
countrymen, and from this time we find Norman soldiers of 
fortune in southern Italy offering their services to the high- 
est bidder. About 1027 the duke of Naples granted Aversa 
to a band of such adventurers, and by conquest they added 
other small territories to this. Having quarrelled with their 
allies, the Greeks, over the distribution of spoil, they at- 



The Normans in Italy in 

tacked and conquered Apulia, which they organized into a 
kind of republic. The headship in this little state was ac- 
quired by William of the Iron Arm, who passed it on to 
his brothers, each of whom followed an aggressive policy of 
conquest and annexation. In 1053 they made war on Pope 
Leo IX. After taking him prisoner, they fell at his feet, 
begging forgiveness and asking to be made his vassals and 
confirmed in their title to the lands which they had con- 
quered. 

In 1057 the ablest of the brothers, Robert Guiscard, Robert Guis- 
succeeded to the title of count of Apulia. Two years later duke, 1059. 
he appeared before Pope Nicholas II. (1059-61), gave him 
the oath of allegiance, and received in return the title of 
duke of Apuha, Calabria, and Sicily. Sicily and a part of 
Calabria were still in the hands of the Saracens, and the 
newly made duke set about their conquest. His brother 
Roger quickly overcame nearly all of Sicily, although the Sicily 
Saracens were not wholly driven out till about 1090. Rob- ^^^^"^^^ 
ert ruled his duchy well ; Amalfi was for awhile one of 
the principal commercial cities of Italy, and the schools of 
Salerno also added lustre to his name. 

A revolution in Constantinople gave Robert an oppor- 
tunity to attempt to extend his territories to the east. In 
1 08 1 Alexius Comnenus usurped the power and expelled the 
Emperor Nicephorus III. Constantine, the son of the pre- 
ceding Emperor, Michael VII., had married the daughter 
of Robert Guiscard. Apparently to restore his son-in-law, 
but probably to secure the crown for himself, Robert Guis- 
card gathered an army to invade the Greek Empire. He Robert attacks 
sought the support of Gregory VII., who gave him his Emperor, 
blessing and promised to invest him with all the lands he 
might conquer. Durazzo, on the coast of Epirus, was first 
taken. Alexius sent Henry IV. of Germany large sums 
of money, and begged him to make an invasion into south- 



112 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

ern Italy. He secured the aid of the Venetians by grant- 
ing them great commercial privileges, such as the freedom 
from tolls and the possession of a Venetian quarter in Con- 
stantinople. After capturing Durazzo, Robert forced his 
way into the interior. Towns and fortresses fell into his 
hands until he controlled all of Epirus and a large part of 
Thessaly. Thessalonica and Larissa were threatened, but 
at this moment Gregory VII., who was hard pressed by 
Henry IV., called on Robert to come to his aid. He left 
his army in charge of his son Boemund, and hastened to 
Rome, where he succeeded in driving off the Germans and 
freeing the Pope. But in Thessaly the diplomacy of Alex- 
ius won the victory. By offering large bribes he succeeded 
in winning over many of the Norman knights. He levied 
fresh troops in other parts of the Empire. Boemund's 
forces were gradually weakened by losses in battle, by sick- 
ness and desertions, so that Alexius was able to defeat him 
and gradually force him back to the Adriatic. At last, even 
Durazzo was retaken, and Boemund with his handful of men 
returned to Italy. Robert Guiscard soon renewed the at- 
tempt, but Alexius had in the meanwhile so strongly for- 
tified and garrisoned the coast that Robert met with small 

Death of success. His untimely death in the following year (1085) 

o ert, 10 5. p^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^ invasion, and Boemund made peace with 
Alexius. 

The work of Robert Guiscard was to live after him. By 
his conquests he had united Sicily and the southern part of 

Basis for anew Italy into one great duchy, which was to be the basis for 
the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. He was succeeded as 
duke by his brother Roger in 1085, who in turn was fol- 
lowed by his son Roger II. (iioi). This second Roger 
inherited the well-known family characteristics, ambition 
and great ability, and succeeded in changing his duchy into 
a kingdom. 



kingdom. 



TJie Normans in Italy 113 

We have followed the Norsemen in their settlements The influence 
throughout Europe and shown how great their activity and mans^in°^" 
importance were. They settled the islands far to the west ^^^^P^- 
and north, established a kingdom among the mixed peo- 
ples of what is now western Russia, added to the stock of 
German blood in England, established a great duchy in 
France, whose dukes and nobles conquered England and 
impressed upon it the Norman character ; they created the 
kingdom of the Two Sicilies, threatened the eastern Em- 
pire, led the crusades, and established kingdoms in Asia ; 
they were the most efficient allies of the Papacy in its long 
and bitter struggle with the Empire, and materially assisted 
in securing the Papal victory. Although they eventually 
either lost their possessions or were thoroughly amalgamated 
with the people of the conquered country, they nevertheless 
left their impress on Europe in many ways. 



CHAPTER X 



FEUDALISM 



Feudalism 
defined. 



Economic 
relations, feu- 
dal tenure. 



Social rela- 
tion, lord and 
vassal. 



Political rela- 
tions, immu- 
nity. 



Feudalism is the name applied to the economic, social, 
and political relations and conditions existing in Europe 
from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries. These economic 
relations are expressed by the phrase ''feudal tenure of 
land," the theory underlying which was that the tenant or 
holder of any piece of land had only the use of it, for 
which he must pay certain dues as rent, to the man (lord 
or suzerain) from whom he had received it. Property in 
land was not absolute, but of a beneficiary nature ; that is, 
the holder had only the benefits of the use of it, not the 
land itself. In theory the land belonged to God, who let 
it to the king, who, in turn, sublet it to his great vassals, 
and these then parcelled it out to their subjects. 

The general word expressing the social relations is " vas- 
salage," which indicates the personal relation and bond 
existing between the man who thus held the land and the 
man from whom he had received it. It conveys on the 
side of the vassal the idea of social inferiority and the obli- 
gation to perform certain services for his lord. 

The political relations are expressed by the word ' ' im- 
munity," which means that the holder of an estate is, in 
the matter of its government, free from all interference on 
the part of his lord ; that is, with the use of the land he 
also received from his lord the right, within his own terri- 
tory, to perform the judicial, executive, and even, to some 
extent, the legislative functions of government, and in the 

114 



Feudalism 



115 



ordinary exercise of these functions he is free from all inter- 
ference on the part of his lord. He is, therefore, on his 
own domain, to all intents and purposes, and, within cer- 
tain limits, an independent king. 

These three things — feudal tenure, vassalage, and immu- 
nity — are the essential features of feudalism. 

This condition of affairs was the outcome of the chaos of Origin of 
the two centuries which followed the death of Karl the ^^^'^^^''"'• 
Great. Not even he had been able wholly to centralize 
the power, and to sustain a personal relation to all his sub- 
jects. He struggled during all his reign against the ten- 
dency to separation, and the ambitious efforts of various 
parts of his Empire to achieve local independence. The 
machinery of his government was not inherently weak; 
it needed only a strong and vigorous man to conduct it. 
Under his successors, in the ninth and tenth centuries, be- 
cause of their weakness, and the struggles of rebellious 
sons and nobles, his Empire broke up into many pieces. 
There was no one to enforce the laws and preserve or- 
der, since the Emperor was too weak to do so. Men found 
that they could break the laws, therefore, with impunity. 
The strong oppressed the weak, seized their goods, their 
lands, and even their persons, forcing them into the posi- 
tion of vassals or serfs. This is the period of violence and 
usurpations, or what the Germans most appropriately call 
' ' Faustrecht, ' ' or fist right ; the man with the strong arm 
might do whatever he chose. The wheels of government 
stopped, and the people had, therefore, to take care of 
themselves. Duruy has well stated this point: ''Roy- 
alty no longer performed the duties for which it was insti- 
tuted, and protection, which could not be obtained from 
the nominal head of the state, was now sought from the 
bishops, counts, barons, and all powerful men." Their 
attempts to take care of themselves resulted in a compli- 



Ii6 A Short History of MedicBval Europe 



Office and 
lands become 
hereditary. 



Freehold 
lands become 
feudal. 



cated set of customs and practices, the sum of which was 
feudalism. The weak man, in order that he might not 
be utterly destroyed by the violence of those who were 
stronger than he, often willingly surrendered all that he 
had to some bishop or count, put himself under his protec- 
tion, and assumed the vassal relation. The violence and 
chaos of the ninth and tenth centuries produced these 
changes and brought about this condition of affairs. There 
were many customs prevalent among the peoples of Europe 
before the ninth century, which furnished certain elements 
of feudalism, but they were not what produced it. Such 
things as the German "comitatus," or '' Gefolge," and 
the Gallic ''commendation," undoubtedly were prototypes 
of some of the feudal customs, but these would not have 
developed into feudalism if it had not been for the chaotic 
economic, social, and pohtical condition of Europe in those 
two centuries. 

Under Karl the Great the tenure of office had depended 
upon his will ; under his successors, many of the imperial 
and royal officials declared that they not only held their 
offices by a life tenure, but that these were also hereditary 
in their family. These claims they were able to make good 
in spite of the imperial opposition. In this way the judicial, 
executive, and legislative functions of the central govern- 
ment were usurped. Karl the Great had rewarded his offi- 
cials with gifts of lands. Under his successors, all the 
holders of such lands succeeded in making their possessions 
hereditary in their family, while still recognizing the Em- 
peror as the actual possessor of them. 

Many who held land by the allodial (freehold or fee sim- 
ple) tenure were deprived of their lands by force and re- 
duced to the position of vassals. Others, when they saw 
themselves exposed to so great danger, bought protection by 
offering to surrender their lands to some lord on the condi- 



Feudalism 117 



tion that he would protect them and permit them, as his 
tenants or vassals, to hold the same lands. In a former chap- 
ter attention has been called to the fact that under the Em- 
perors of the sixth and seventh centuries, such a process was 
going on because of the heavy taxation and the oppression 
by the government. Previously all land had been held by 
the allodial tenure, but gradually this was so thoroughly 
changed that by the end of the twelfth century the prin- 
ciple was generally acknowledged that all land must have a 
feudal lord and be held by the feudal tenure. In the thir- 
teenth century there was very little land in western and 
northern Europe held in any other way. Fiefs and vas- 
salage, therefore, arose from grants, usurpations, seizures, 
and voluntary surrender. 

Since feudalism grew out of the chaos of the times, it Feudalism not 
could hardly be expected that it would have a uniform char- ^ ^^^ ^"^' 
acter. In fact, the feudalism of one province differed from 
that of another. In the general stress and danger each one 
made such terms as he could with his lord. Feudalism is 
not a system, therefore ; it is as chaotic and irregular as the 
period in which it arose. To almost every general state- 
ment about it exceptions could be found. Classifications 
are impossible, because of the great and numerous varia- 
tions which are everywhere met with. It is a misnomer to 
speak of the feudal '' system," since by that word the idea 
is conveyed that it is an orderly and uniform set of customs 
and regulations. 

A great step toward better things was taken when Henry 
III. declared himself to be guardian of the public peace, or 
''peace of the land," and threatened to punish all who dis- 
turbed it. By this means private warfare was greatly lim- 
ited. The chaos and anarchy of the ninth and tenth cen- 
turies yielded to regularity and order. The customs were 
more fixed and better observed. Feudalism became less 



1 1 8 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



chaotic, and society, therefore, more stable ; violence be- 
came less and security greater; travel was possible because 
of the greater safety along the highways. The effect was 
seen at once in the steady revival of commerce, which be- 
came more pronounced as the eleventh century advanced. 

The Church was completely drawn into feudal relations. 
In those days of violence and rapine, the robber and plun- 
derer had little or no regard for the property of the Church, 
or the lives of the churchmen. Churches and monasteries 
were, therefore, compelled to seek protection, just as indi- 
viduals were. The bishop or priest, for his church or dio- 
cese, and the abbot or prior, for his monastery, surrendered 
the church's or monastery's property to some lord and re- 
ceived them back in return for the payment of certain rents 
and dues. Such churches and monasteries were legally 
feudal individuals, and were, of course, required to perform 
all feudal duties. The lands, indeed, belonged to the 
Church, and, theoretically, could not be alienated from the 
Church and ecclesiastical uses. As late as the eleventh cen- 
tury it was not at all uncommon for the clergy to marry. 
Since fiefs were hereditary, it seemed perfectly proper that 
their children should be provided for out of the Church 
lands which they held. But, unless all their children be- 
came clergymen, these Church lands would pass into the 
hands of laymen and therefore be lost to the Church. One 
of the purposes of the prohibition of the marriage of the 
clergy was to prevent this alienation and diminution of the 
Church lands. 

The land, office, or any right or privilege granted and 
held as indicated above was called a fief, feud, or benefice. 
The lord, liege, or suzerain, was the one who granted a fief. 
The receiver of it was his vassal or liege-man. Subinfeu- 
dation was the regranting of a fief by a vassal to a third per- 
son, who, therefore, became a vassal to a vassal. In con- 



Feudalism 119 



nection with the infeudation of a fief there were certain 
rights and ceremonies called homage ; kneeling with uncov- 
ered head, folded hands, and sword ungirt before his pro- 
spective lord, the vassal made a set speech in which he 
vowed that he would become the lord's '' man " and per- 
form all the duties which this relation demanded. The lord 
then raised him, received his oath of fidelity, and by a sym- 
bolic act (usually the presentation of a sword, standard, 
sceptre, ring, staff, a bit of earth or a twig) invested him 
with the possession of the fief in question. 

The one great duty of the lord to his vassal was to pro- 
tect him. The lord must avenge his vassal's wrongs, de- 
fend him in all his privileges, and secure him justice in all 
matters. The vassal, on the other hand, owed his lord 
service, which might be of various kinds. Military service Noble or mili- 
was, in some respects, the most important, and in accord- ^^^ service. 
ance with the ideas of the times was regarded as noble. 
Service in labor, gifts, money, and produce, was regarded 
as menial or ignoble. Military service in the days of Karl 
the Great had been required of all freemen. The army was 
composed of the whole people under arms. As the use of 
cavalry was introduced and became general, and the prac- 
tice of wearing armor universal, it became impossible for 
everyone to equip himself with the required paraphernalia. 
Continuous and far-distant campaigns made it necessary for 
many people to remain at home to till the soil. Karl the 
Great had the right to call his army together at any time, 
and demand their service in any part of the Empire, and for 
any length of time. By offering united resistance the vas- 
sals succeeded in acquiring two important limitations to 
this : they could be compelled to serve only forty days in 
the year, and only within a reasonable distance from their 
homes. 

Feudal armies could not be levied directly by the king ; 



120 A Short History of MedicBval Europe 



Feudal 
armies. 



Feudal dues. 



he must first send the summons to his great vassals, with 
the order to appear with a certain number of men at a cer- 
tain time and place. These, in turn, delivered the order 
to their vassals, and so the command was passed along until 
it had reached the end of the line of vassals. Under such 
conditions it is easily apparent that a feudal army was of 
little use, even when it was got together. Since wars must 
be fought, the rulers ceased to rely on their feudal levies, 
and engaged mercenary troops, which they kept as a stand- 
ing army. Among the special duties laid upon a vassal 
were the following : If in battle the lord were unhorsed the 
vassal must give him his own; if the lord were in personal 
danger, the vassal must defend him with his life ; if the lord 
were taken prisoner of war, the vassal was bound to go as a 
hostage for him. 

There were various circumstances under which the lord 
might demand money from his vassals. When he knighted 
his eldest son, or gave his eldest daughter in marriage, or 
himself was taken prisoner, he might demand any sum 
which his vassal was able to pay. Such payments were 
called '' aids," and tended to become fixed. A relief was 
a sum of money paid by an heir when he entered upon his 
inheritance at the death of his father. Ordinarily this was 
the entire income of the estate for a year. The same rule 
existed in regard to ecclesiastical offices. The newly ap- 
pointed bishop or priest was compelled to pay the first- 
fruits (the annates), which meant the income of his office 
for a year. If a vassal died without heirs, his property re- 
verted to the lord (escheat), and might then be relet to 
another vassal. If a vassal wished to surrender his fief to 
another, he had first to get the consent of his lord and pay 
a certain sum of money (fine upon alienation). If a vassal 
were guilty of treason, the lord might claim his possession 
by forfeiture. In England the king claimed, also, certain 



Feudalism 121 



other rights, such as wardship and marriage ; that is, if a 
vassal died leaving only children who were minors, the king 
became their guardian, and managed, and had the income 
from, their estates until they became of age. His consent 
to their marriage must be obtained, for which they were 
expected to pay well. One of the most oppressive rights 
of the lord was that of fodrum ; that is, the maintenance 
of himself and retinue, or even his army ; when passing 
through any district he might demand that its residents 
supply himself and his followers with food. In the same 
way, he might require the people along the way to furnish 
him a sufficient number of horses and wagons to transport 
him and his train from one place to another. 

The rents due from the vassal were of various kinds. 
Generally a certain sum was due for the land, another for 
the house, sometimes another for the fire (chimney), and 
ordinarily a small tax for each head of stock (cattle, sheep, 
hogs, etc.). Of course the lord received a certain share of 
all that was produced on the soil, of the wheat, hay, wine, 
chickens, stock, honey, beeswax, and everything, in fact. 
A charge was also made for the privilege of pasturing the 
stock in the forests or fields of the lord, for obtaining fire- 
wood from his forests, and for fishing in the streams which 
were regarded as his property. The peasants were forbid- 
den to sell their grain for a certain length of time after the 
harvest, or their wine after the vintage, in order that the 
lord might have a temporary monopoly in these articles. 
They were compelled to bake their bread in his oven, grind 
their corn at his mill, and press their grapes in his wine- 
press, for all of which a suitable toll in kind was charged. 
The lord could also seize the grain, wine, and other prod- 
uce of his tenant, paying him what he chose, either in cash 
or at the end of a certain time. The tenant was required 
to labor also for his lord a certain number of days in the 



122 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Feudal jus- 
tice. 



Feudal 
society. 



Disposition of 
the soil. 



year. He must till his fields, care for his crops, make his 
wine, fiirnish horses and wagons on demand, haul his wood 
for the fires in the house, stones for building purposes, keep 
his castle and other buildings in repair, build defences, re- 
pair the roads and bridges, and render a multitude of other 
services. 

The lord exercised over his tenants the power of a judge. 
All cases were tried before him or his officers. He had the 
right to impose and collect fines for all sorts of offences. 
For every crime and misdemeanor there was a fixed fine. 
The administration of justice on a great domain was, there- 
fore, the source of a considerable income. The lord held 
court three times a year, at which all his vassals were ex- 
pected to be present ; but such attendance was soon felt to 
be burdensome and they secured permission to absent them- 
selves on the payment of a fee. 

These are only some of the rights of a feudal lord. It 
was to the lord's interest, of course, to multiply them and 
enforce them whenever possible. The vassals did all they 
could to limit them and to preserve their liberty and inde- 
pendence. It is apparent, however, that they were subject 
to innumerable burdens, and if their lord or his overseer 
was so disposed, their lives could be made unendurable. 

Feudal society may be divided into three classes, the 
peasants or tillers of the soil, the citizens or inhabitants of 
the towns, forming the industrial class, and the aristocracy, 
who lived from the labors of the other two classes. 

The land was ordinarily divided into large estates, or 
domains, in the hands of what we may call great landlords, 
who, of course, did no work themselves. Very often they 
did not even oversee their estates but left that work to the 
care of a foreman or agent. This office of agent often be- 
came a fief, but sometimes it was farmed out for a certain 
sum. The holder of it received no salary, but was ex- 



Feudalism 123 



pected to get his pay out of the administration of the office 
itself. This he did at the expense of the peasants. The 
central house, or manor of the estate, was regarded as the 
residence of the lord, although it often happened that he 
spent little time at it, especially if he possessed several do- 
mains. The manor was often the residence of the agent. 
About the manor was often a considerable amount of land 
which was held by the lord and cultivated for his benefit. 
Since all his tenants owed him a certain number of days' 
labor, he never had any difficulty in having this land well 
cultivated. 

All the rest of the tillable land and meadow was divided 
into small lots and parcelled out among the tenants and 
became hereditary in the family of the one who tilled them. 
These tenants lived, generally, in little houses grouped to- 
gether, forming a village. All the inhabitants of the coun- 
try were known as peasants (rustici, villains), and may be 
divided into two classes, serfs and free. But within these 
two divisions there were many variations. 

The slavery of the early Empire had been changed into 
serfdom. The slaves had become attached to the soil which Serfs, 
they tilled. They were no longer sold. They were allowed 
to marry, and in accordance with the prevailing feudal 
customs received a bit of land. At first the lord could tax 
his serfs at will, but gradually limits were set to the demands 
which he might make. The serf paid an annual poll-tax, 
and if he married someone belonging to another domain 
he also paid a certain sum for the privilege of doing so. 
He could neither alienate nor dispose of his possessions by 
will. At his death all that he had went to the lord. The 
serf could neither be taken from his land, nor might he 
leave it ; yet many of them ran away from their lords, and, 
passing themselves off for freemen, took service with other 
lords. If caught, however, they could be restored to their 



124 ^ SJiort History of Mediceval Europe 

former lord ; but if they could secure admission to the 
ranks of the clergy they thereby became free men. They 
might also become free in other ways. They might, if 
their master were willing, formally renounce him, surrender 
all their goods, and quit the domain. On the other hand, 
the lord might set a serf free on the payment of a certain 
sum. This became, indeed, a favorite way of raising 
money. The lord would set free all the serfs of his domain 
and demand the payment of the fee. Since they became 
his free tenants and must remain and till his land, he really 
lost nothing by setting them free, but rather gained. On 
the other hand, people might be reduced to serfdom by 
force. The conceptions of free and servile had become 
attached to the soil. Certain parts of a domain were called 
free, probably because they had always been occupied by 
free peasants, while other parts were called servile, probably 
because they had always been tilled by slaves who gradually 
became serfs. If a free peasant occupied this servile land 
he thereby lost his free character and became a serf. The 
free peasants were more nearly like renters who pay so 
much each year for the use of their lands either in money 
or in produce. Their lands were also hereditary. Being 
independent of their lord they could dispose of their pos- 
sessions. There was nothing to prevent them from amass- 
ing a considerable amount of property. 

In a later chapter will be found a description of the class 
Citizens. of citizens. The cities themselves arose after the establish- 

ment of feudalism, but were forced into the feudal relations. 
They were, in fact, regarded as feudal personalities, and 
were treated much as a feudal individual. The city, as a 
whole, owed feudal duties. As the cities grew large and 
rich they resisted the feudal claims of their lords and were 
one of the powers that destroyed feudalism. 

Sharply separated from the laboring classes were the 



Feudalism 125 



nobility. This nobility was divided into two classes, the Nobility. 
secular and the ecclesiastical. The only occupation of the 
secular nobility was the use of arms. Only he could enter 
this class who had sufficient money to equip himself as a 
warrior and to support himself without work ; for work was 
regarded as ignoble. It is probable that for centuries the 
acquisition of sufficient wealth enabled anyone to pass into 
the ranks of the nobility. But in the thirteenth century 
nobility became hereditary. The line was sharply drawn 
between the noble and the ignoble families. Noble birth 
was added to the requisites of nobiHty, and eventually be- 
came the only requisite. Wealth alone was no longer the 
passport to noble rank. Intermarriage between nobles and 
commoners was forbidden, or at least regarded as a mesal- 
liance. In Germany and France all the children born into 
a noble family inherited the title, while in England the 
title and wealth passed only to the eldest son. He only 
was required to marry within his class. The younger 
children might miarry into ignoble families without thereby 
forming a mesalliance, a fact which accounts for the com- 
munity of interest which has ever existed in England but 
not elsewhere between commoner and aristocracy. 

From the tenth century it became customary to fight on 
horseback. Whoever was able to equip himself with a horse Cavalry, 
and the necessary armor was regarded as a member of the 
aristocracy of arms. Only the common people still fought 
on foot. From this use of the horse came the terms " chiv- 
alry " and ''chevalier." Both man and horse were pro- 
tected by armor in such a way that they were almost in- 
vulnerable. The knight wore a helmet, coat of mail, and 
a shield for defence, and for attack carried a sword and 
lance. Improvements were constantly made in the armor, 
which gradually became so heavy that the knight was al- 
most helpless except on his horse. For ordinary purposes 



126 A SJiort History of Mediceval Europe 

he kept a light horse, but for battle, a strong animal was 
required because of the weight of the armor. Every knight 
was also attended by an esquire, whose duty it was to care 
for his horse and weapons and to serve as a body-servant. 
Among this great body of men of arms there grew up a 

Chivalry. set of customs and ideas to which the name of chivalry was 

given. It came to be regarded as a closed society into 
which, after certain conditions had been fulfilled, one could 
be admitted by initiatory ceremonies. Every young noble- 
man was required to learn the use of arms by serving an 
apprenticeship of from five to seven years. Generally he 
was attached to some knight, whom he attended every- 
where, serving him in all sorts of ways. Such service, how- 
ever, was not regarded as ignoble. At the close of his 
apprenticeship the young man bathed and put on his armor. 
His master then girded him with a sword and struck him 
with his hand on the shoulder, at the same time addressing 
him as knight. This is the earlier form of the ceremony. 
From the twelfth century on, the clergy added thereto 
many rites, all of a religious character. The candidate 
must also fast, spend a night in prayer, attend mass on the 
following morning, and lay his sword on the altar that it 
might be blessed by the priest, who then addressed him on 
his special duties as a knight. 

The warlike character of the times showed itself in the 
dwellings as well as in the sports of the nobility. They 

Castles. dwelt in forts rather than in houses. Their castles were 

built in the places most easily fortified and defended. 
Ditches, moats, and walls formed the outer defences, while 
the castle itself, with its high lookout tower, made a strong- 
hold which alone could endure a heavy siege. The sports 
of the nobility consisted principally of hunting, hawking, 
and the holding of tournaments. The tournament was sup- 
posed to be a mimic battle, but it often resulted fatally. 



Feudalism 127 



At one tournament alone it is said that sixty knights were 
killed. 

The Church was profoundly influenced by feudal ideas 
and customs. The whole clergy, the Archbishops, bishops, 
and abbots, through their great temporal possessions, were 
drawn into the feudal relation. The Church taught not 
only that almsgiving was one of the cardinal virtues, but 
also that she herself was the fittest object on which it might 
be practised. Everywhere people gave liberally to the 
Church, hoping thereby to secure the greatest possible in- 
tercession with God from the clergy. Monasteries, churches, 
and colleges of canons became rich from such gifts; in the 
course of centuries the clergy became possessors of vast tracts The high 
of land and great privileges. Every bishop and Archbishop ^ ^^^^' 
was therefore a landlord on whom the care of these great 
estates devolved. Because of their immense wealth, as well 
as the high honor attached to their calling, they also be- 
longed to the aristocratic class and ranked with the secular 
nobility. Since they were the most learned they were also 
used by the kings and Emperors as counsellors and high 
officials. The great incomes of the monasteries and bishop- 
rics made them especially attractive, and it early became 
the custom to put the younger sons of noble families into 
the best of such positions. These ecclesiastical lands, how- 
ever, could not escape the feudal relation. The ruler of 
each country declared that all such lands owed him the 
customary feudal dues. Every bisho}) or abbot, on his ac- 
cession to the office, became the king's vassal and must take 
the vow of homage and the oath of fealty to him and re- 
ceive from him the investiture of the temporal possessions 
of his office. He must therefore perform, in addition to 
his ecclesiastical duties, also the civil duties which were re- 
quired of other vassals. This dual character of the clergy 
was destined to become one of the principal causes of the 



128 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



bitter struggle between the Empire and the Papacy. It 
was impossible for the clergy to be faithful to two masters, 
both of whom demanded the fullest obedience. 

Feudalism reached its height from the tenth to the thir- 
Causesofthe teenth centuries and then gradually declined. The inven- 
dalism^ ^^" ^ion of gunpowder revolutionized the methods of warfare. 
Against fire-arms, the knight's armor and castle were 
equally useless. The close of the Middle Age is marked by 
the rapid growth of the power of the kings, who succeeded 
in gathering the power into their own hands. The nobles 
were deprived of their authority. Out of the fragments of 
feudalism the king built up an absolute monarchy. The 
growth of the cities, also, did much to break down feudal- 
ism, for as they increased in power and wealth they wrest- 
ed independence from their lords and threw off the feudal 
yoke. Various forces were at work to diminish the num- 
ber of serfs and villains, such as the crusades, the great 
pests, and the constant wars. The feudal lords were left 
without a sufficient number of tenants to do their work. 
The demand for laborers created the supply, and we find 
at once a growing number of free laborers who work for 
wages without any feudal ties. Gradually feudal tenures 
were changed into allodial tenures. The fifteenth century 
saw the breaking up of feudalism, although in France and 
elsewhere certain fragments remained till the French Revo- 
lution, and the social organization of Europe is still largely 
feudal in its fundamental ideas. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE GROWTH OF THE PAPACY 

During the first two hundred years of the Church's ex- 
istence its organization was very loose. Each bishop was 
practically independent of all other bishops. But there 
was a steady development throughout the Church toward a 
closer union of all its parts. The magnificent political and 
civil organization of the Empire furnished an excellent 
model, which was copied by the Church almost uncon- 
sciously. Corresponding to the political head of a prov- 
ince, there grew up an ecclesiastical official whose author- 
ity extended over the province and whose residence was 
the capital of the province ; that is, there was gradually 
developed above the bishops of a province an Archbishop Archbishops. 
or metropolitan. The civil province thus became also an 
ecclesiastical province. The new office naturally fell to 
the bishop of the capital of the province. The Church 
followed the organization of the Empire so closely that the 
ecclesiastical rank of the bishop was at first determined by 
the political rank of the city in which he lived. 

As several political provinces were grouped together to 
form a larger division (eparchy), so also several ecclesiasti- 
cal provinces, with Archbishops at their respective heads, 
were grouped together and formed a larger province, with 
an over-Archbishop at its head. For this officer and his 
diocese the word Patriarch and Patriarchate were used in Patriarch, 
the fourth century. The capitals of these Patriarchates 
were Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, Caesarea in Cappado- 



130 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Two lines of 
tlevelopment. 



Conditions 
favoring the 
growth of the 
spiritual 
authority of 
the Pope. 



cia, Heraclea (which was early replaced by Constantinople), 
Corinth, Alexandria, and Rome. In the sixth century 
only five of these were recognized — Jerusalem, Antioch, 
Alexandria, Constantinople, and Rome. 

In tracing the growth of the Papacy there are two things 
to be kept clearly separate ; the one is the development of 
the Bishop of Rome as the head of the whole Church, and 
the other is the growth of his power as temporal sover- 
eign. These will be traced separately till the year 755, 
after which they will be treated together. 

In the fourth century the Bishop of Rome already had 
two offices : he was, first, the Bishop of Rome, and, sec- 
ond, he was also Archbishop or Patriarch over the territory 
about Rome. We must discover how he added to these 
two a third, the office of Bishop of the whole Church. 
Among the natural influences which helped bring this 
about may be mentioned the following : 

The Bishop of Rome was the only Patriarch in the west, 
and he therefore had no competition. Since Rome was 
the capital of the Empire, it seemed natural to think of the 
Church at Rome as in some sense the capital congregation, 
and its bishop the first bishop in the world. The analogy 
between him and the Emperor would inevitably be drawn. 
The Church at Rome gave liberally for the relief of the 
persecuted and of the poor of other congregations. The 
Bishop of Rome had charge of the disbursement of these 
funds, and received much of the reverence generally given 
to benefactors. The Bishops of Rome were, for the most 
part, on that side of the great theological questions which 
was accepted by the whole Church, and in consequence 
thereof the feeling arose that they alone of all bishops could 
be depended on to preserve the orthodox creed of the 
Church in all its integrity. The bishops and Patriarchs in 
the east quarrelled not only about the creed but also ^bout 



The Groivth of the Papacy 131 

political questions. In their disputes they appealed so 
often to the Bishop of Rome, that in the end he claimed 
the right to judge between them. At the Council of Sar- 
dica (343) it was proposed to make him judge in all cases 
where bishops who had been condemned by a council 
wished to appeal to a higher power. This was an impor- 
tant step in the development of his universal jurisdiction. 
A council at Nicaea (325) took certain action which im- 
plied the equality of all the Patriarchs (/.^., the Bishops of 
Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Ephesus, Csesarea, and Hera- 
clea). The Council at Constantinople (381) decreed that 
the bishop of Constantinople, who had now replaced the 
bishop of Heraclea, should have the first place in honor 
and dignity after the Bishop of Rome, because Constanti- 
nople was regarded as the new Rome or capital of the Em- 
pire. This council merely fixed a matter of etiquette, saying 
only that the Bishop of Rome possessed a little more official 
dignity and honor than the others. The Council of Chal- 
cedon (451) admitted that the Bishop of Rome was entitled 
to great honor because he was bishop in the ancient capi- 
tal ; but the bishop of New Rome was entitled to equal 
honor, because he was bishop of the city in which the Em- 
peror resided and the Senate had its seat. Against this the 
Bishop of Rome, Leo the Great (440-61), protested. He 
admitted that Constantinople was the capital of the Em- 
pire, but declared that the political rank of a city did not 
determine the ecclesiastical rank of its bishop. It is the 
Apostolic origin of a church that entitles it to a higher ec- 
clesiastical rank. The church of Rome, he declared, had 
been founded by Peter, the Prince of the Apostles. To 
his successors Peter had passed on all his rights, dignity, and 
supremacy, so that as he was first among the Apostles, the 
Bishops of Rome were first among all the bishops of the 
world. By virtue of being the successor of St. Peter, 



132 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Leo claimed the right to exercise absohite power over the 
whole Church. Leo was the first to give a clear-cut ex- 
pression to this Petrine theory, which from that day to this 
has been regarded as the basis for the supremacy of the 
Bishop of Rome. 

Early in the sixth century Dionysius Exiguus, a monk 
of Rome, published tAvo books, the one a collection of 
canons of the various church Councils, the other a collec- 
tion of letters, opinions, and decisions of Popes on various 
matters. Dionysius treated the opinions of the Popes as 
if they had as much weight as the action of the councils ; 
and as these two works were widely used in the west, they 
helped raise the authority of the Papacy. 

While all the causes that have just been named contrib- 
uted to elevate the Pope to a position of supremacy, it was 
his success in Christianizing the Barbarians in western Eu- 
rope that assured him his position at the head of the Church. 
The Bishops of Rome labored for the conversion of the 
Arian Germans to the orthodox belief, and made a close 
alliance with the Franks when Chlodwig accepted the true 
faith. The Christianization of England through the efforts 
of Gregory the Great has already been described. These 
Anglo-Saxons, the Pope's youngest converts, were the most 
zealous promoters of his interests. Through them the or- 
thodox faith, one of the tenets of which was the supremacy 
of the Bishop of Rome, was carried to Ireland, Scotland, 
and to all the German tribes on the mainland who were 
either heathen or only nominally Christian, and owed no 
allegiance to the Bishop of Rome. An Anglo-Saxon prin- 
cess. Queen Margaret of Scotland, toward the end of the 
eleventh century, subjected the Church of Scotland to the 
Papacy, and made it conform in all respects to the Roman 
Catholic Church. Only the Irish Church, the Church of 
St. Patrick, remained independent and yielded no obedi- 



The Growth of the Papacy 133 

ence to Rome, till Henry II. (1154-89) conquered a part 
of Ireland and brought its Church into subjection. 

In a former chapter attention was called to the mission- 
ary labors of Irish monks in Scotland and England. They 
did not confine their efforts to those countries. Many mis- 
sionary bands, numbering generally thirteen persons, were 
sent to the mainland, and labored among the Friesians and Irish mission- 
other German tribes, whose Christianity was only nominal, condnent!^ 
Their Church organization was very loose, and they were 
not attached to the Bishop of Rome. The Irish mission- 
aries found ample field among them for all their activity. 

It was a West Saxon, Winifred, or Boniface, as he was Boniface, 
later called, who was to reorganize the Church among all the ^~^^^- 
Germans, and subject it to the Bishop of Rome. He was 
born about 680 ; was brought up in a monastery ; and or- 
dained a priest when about thirty years old. In 718 he 
went to Rome and received from the Pope a commission to 
Christianize and Romanize all the Germans in central Eu- 
rope. For nearly five years he travelled through Germany, 
from Bavaria to Friesia, in the prosecution of his work. In 
723 he again went to Rome, and was made a missionary 
bishop without a diocese, at which time he took the same 
oath to the Pope which was required of the bishops in 
the diocese of Rome. Practically, therefore, the Pope 
must have regarded Germany as a part of his diocese, 
and as closely attached to him as were the districts about 
Rome. 

From Karl Martel, and after him from Pippin, Boniface 
obtained support in his work. He received supplies of both 
men and means from England, and was able to establish in 
Germany many monasteries. In 743 he was made Arch- 
bishop of Mainz. He called councils, at which the work 
of organization was perfected, heresies refuted, superstitious 
rites and customs forbidden, the lives of the clergy regulated, 



134 ^ Short History of Mediceval Europe 



The Roman 
Catholic Con- 
quest of the 
west. 



An estimate of 
his work. 



his opponents condemned, and the authority of the Bishop 
of Rome acknowledged. 

In 753 he resigned his position as Archbishop of Mainz, 
and went again, with a large number of helpers, as a mis- 
sionary to Friesia, where he met a martyr's death (754 or 
755). But the principal part of his work was done. He 
had organized the Church throughout Germany and sub- 
jected it to Rome. It was from this Church of Germany, 
now truly dependent on Rome, that Christianity was to be 
carried to the remaining German tribes, such as the Saxons, 
Danes, and the people of Scandinavia, and to the Slavic 
peoples to the east of the Elbe. In this way the doctrine 
of the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, which had become 
a part of the Roman creed, was spread throughout all Eu- 
rope, and was regarded as an essential part of Christianity. 
This movement may be called the Roman Catholic Con- 
quest of the West ; for it was a conquest, the outcome of a 
policy, the full results of which could not be foreseen by 
the Popes of that time. 

The work of Boniface has been variously judged. He 
has been exalted as the apostle of the Germans and con- 
demned as the enslaver of the German Church. It was, in- 
deed, unfortunate in its later results, that the Church of 
Germany was so completely in the hands of the Bishop of 
Rome, but at that time the choice was, in reality, between 
subjection to Rome and heathenism. Boniface chose the 
former, because it was by all odds the best thing to do. 
The Church among the Franks and Germans was in a 
wretched condition. Many of the Church lands were in 
the hands of laymen. There was little or no discipline, 
and no control exercised over the clergy. Each priest did 
what was right in his own eyes. There were, at this time, 
many vagabond priests and monks wandering about over 
the country, obtaining a precarious living by imposing 



TJlc Groivth of the Papacy 135 

upon the people. There was also much heathenism among 
the people. Such a state of affairs was little better than 
heathenism pure and simple, and such Christianity, such 
a Church, would certainly be unable to maintain the Franks 
in the leading position they were now holding. Boniface 
put an end to this disorder. He forbade all monks to leave 
their monastery without sufficient reason. The wandering 
clergymen were put under the control of the bishop of the 
diocese in which they might be found. Strict discipline 
was everywhere introduced into the monasteries. All 
monks were compelled to live according to the rule of St. 
Benedict. Laymen were forbidden to hold church property. 
In a word, the Church was reformed, and a much better 
type of Christianity was established among the Franks. This 
was the work of Boniface and deserves praise and admiration. 

The growth of the temporal power of the Papacy is, in 
some respects, even more difficult to trace. We have to 
discover how the Pope acquired political power ; first, the 
civil authority in Rome and its duchy, and then the tem- 
poral headship over the whole world. 

From the time of Constantine the bishops were entrusted 
with an ever-increasing amount of civil power. They 
acted as judges; they were guardians of morals; they Growth of tht 
had the oversight of magistrates and a share in the govern- poS power. 
ment of the cities. To these the Bishop of Rome added 
still more important powers, and was easily the most im- 
portant man in Rome. He bitterly resented the right, 
claimed and exercised by the Emperors at Constantinople, 
to dictate to him in ecclesiastical matters, and was finally 
so angered by their haughty treatment of him that he was 
ready to revolt. The image controversy gave him the 
desired opportunity. When the Emperor, Leo KL, forbade 
the use of images. Pope Gregory H. replied that it was not 
the Emperor but the Bishop of Rome who had authority 



1 36 A Short History of Medieval Europe 



Beginning 
the papal 
state, 755. 



of 



Makers of 
Papacy. 

Nicholas I. 
858-67. 



the 



over the beliefs and practices of the Church. Gregory III. 
(731-41) even put the Emperor under the ban. 

In his struggle with the Lombards the Pope appealed 
first to Karl Martel and then to Pippin, visiting the latter 
ii^ 753-54> and begging him to come and dehver him from 
their encroachments. Pippin made two campaigns into 
Italy and compelled the Lombards to cede to the Pope a 
strip of territory which lay to the south of them (755). 
This marks the beginning of the temporal sovereignty of the 
Pope. He was freed from the eastern Emperor, and recog- 
nized as the political as well as the ecclesiastical ruler of 
Rome and its surrounding territory, under the over-lordship 
of Pippin, who had the title of Patricius. 

We have seen that the Pope took the final step in his 
revolt from the eastern Emperor by crowning Karl the 
Great Emperor. He persuaded Ludwig the Pious to allow 
himself to be recrowned by him. In 823 he crowned 
Lothar Emperor, and later his son, Ludwig II. By such a 
long line of precedents the Pope so completely established 
his claim to confer the imperial crown that it was not 
seriously questioned for centuries. 

Thus far, in discussing the growth of the Papacy, we 
have not taken into account the personal element. Such 
men as Leo I., Gregory II., Gregory III., and Nicholas I. 
(858-67) have, with great justice, been called makers of 
the Papacy, because of their activity in formulating and 
advancing the papal claims. Nicholas I., especially, was a 
man of great force, and made himself felt through all parts 
of Europe. Throughout his pontificate he acted on the 
theory that he was responsible for the conduct of affairs in 
the whole Empire. He did not wait for questions to be 
brought to him, but considered it his duty to take the 
initiative whenever he discovered anything wrong. Under 
Nicholas the Papacy possessed more influence and power 



TJie GrozvtJi of the Papacy 137 

than it had ever had before, and under none of his suc- 
cessors did it reach so high a plane until the appearance 
of Gregory VII. 

For awhile in the tenth century, indeed, it seemed that 
the Papacy was to be destroyed by the local political fac- The Papacy in 
tions of Rome. The political character of the office made factions.^ ° 
it a thing to be coveted by all the great families of the city. 
The dignity of the office was dragged through the mire of 
the ward politics of Rome ; it was controlled by infamous 
women and filled by licentious men. Its political character 
overshadowed its religious character, and the Popes forgot 
that they owed any duty to the outside world. Otto I., 
Otto III., and Henry III. rescued the Papacy from its 
perilous position and reminded the Popes that they were the 
head of the whole Church and not simply officials of Rome. 
During the eleventh century the Papacy, keeping well in 
mind its former world-wide claims, grew steadily in self- The Papacy, 
assertion. The Cluniac reform was spreading, and its ideas the° Emperors, 
were gradually taken up by the Popes, and their policy ^^easserts itself. 
shaped in accordance with them. In the Council of Pavia 
(10 1 8) Benedict VIII. forbade the marriage of the clergy. 
Simony, the obtaining of office in any other way than by a 
canonical election, was also forbidden because the Popes 
saw that they could never control the clergy until they could 
control their election. 

Henry III. made and unmade Popes, and treated them as 
subjects who owed him obedience. Toward the end of his Leo ix., 
reign, however, Leo IX. (1048-54) exhibited a spirit of ^°"^ ~^^' 
independence in his government which indicated the coming 
storm. He was appointed by Henry III., but refused to 
accept the office until he had been elected by the people and 
clergy of Rome. He travelled incessantly throughout Italy, 
France, and Germany, holding councils, settling disputes, 
and regulating affairs with a vigor and independence born 



138 A Short History of McdicBval Europe 

of his authority as Pope. He went one step farther in the 
question of simony. Every bishop in the Empire was not 
only a clergyman, but also, by virture of his office, a kind 
of political official of the Emperor. That is, he was com- 
pelled to perform certain civil duties. He was, besides, a 
feudal subject of the Emperor, and as such owed him 
homage for the church lands which he held. The Emperor, 
of course, received certain taxes or income from all the 
lands in the Empire, whether owned by the Church or by 
laymen. No bishop could be inducted into his office until 
he had taken an oath of allegiance to the Emperor and been 
invested by him with the episcopal lands. The Pope had 
no part either in his election or his investiture or induction 
into office. Leo IX. was the first to see the disadvantages 
of this to the Papacy, and in the Synod of Rheims (1049) 
The question asserted the right of the Pope to invest the bishops with the 
broached. "^^ insignia of office. He made no attempt, however, to en- 
force it. 

Gradually the papal theory was working out into all its 
logical conclusions. The Popes were slowly perceiving how 
vast were the opportunities offered them. The vision of 
universal dominion floated dimly before them. The ques- 
tions at issue between the Papacy and the Empire were 
The conflict at being Stated with more precision. The conflict was ready 
to break out. There were wanting only the opportunity and 
the man to make use of it. The opportunity came when 
Henry HI. died, leaving a boy only six years old to succeed 
him, and the man was Hildebrand, a papal officer, but al- 
ready at Henry's death the power behind the throne, and 
as fate would have it, the Pope was made the guardian and 
protector of the boy-king. 



CHAPTER XII 



THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE 
(1056-I254) 

The accession of Henry IV., a mere boy, to the throne 
of Germany gave the Papacy the opportunity for which 
it had been waiting. Since the reform of Henry III. 
(1046) the Papacy had been rapidly gathering power. 
Hildebrand, the adviser of several successive Popes, had 
been able to direct all their efforts toward the same end. 
The pontificate of Nicholas II. (1059-61) was made 
famous by the alliance which he made with Robert Guis- 
card and by the publication of a decree fixing the manner 
of the election of the Pope. Up to this time there had 
been many and great irregularities in the papal elections. 
In theory the Pope was elected by the clergy and people of 
Rome; but the factions in the city had many times con- 
trolled the election and the Emperor had often named the 
Pope. Hildebrand clearly saw that the elections must be 
taken from the control of the people. In accordance with 
his ideas, Nicholas, in a council (1059), proclaimed a de- 
cree that the seven cardinal or titular bishops of Rome 
should in the future have the sole right to nominate the 
Pope, and their nominee must be accepted and elected by 
the clergy of Rome. The people were to have no part in 
the election, and the Emperor probably had the right to 
confirm, but not to reject, the Pope thus elected. 

'^ Cardinal " was a title given to the clergy attached to 
the oldest and most important churches of Rome and its 

139 



Cardinal. 



140 A SJiort History of Mediceval Europe 

vicinity. The churches in Rome itself were all under the 
Bishop of Rome, and were ministered to by presbyters and 
deacons. There were cardinal presbyters and cardinal 
deacons, who were, of course, attached to the principal 
churches. There were seven cardinal bishops, who formed 
a kind of council to the Bishop of Rome, had charge of 
the affairs of the diocese when he was absent from the city, 
and assisted him in all great functions, such as the corona- 
tion of the Emperor \ and to these seven the sole right of 
nominating the Pope was now confided. They were the 
bishops of Palaestrina, Porto, Ostia, Tusculum, Candida 
Silva, Albano, and Sabino. This was the beginning of the 
formation of the College of Cardinals. The decree was an 
important step in the process of freeing the Papacy from 
all temporal control. 

In Germany this decree was rejected because it did not 
recognize the rights of the Emperor. A council of Ger- 
man bishops actually deposed Nicholas, and at his death 
elected an anti-Pope. The Empress Agnes became regent, 
but her inability to administer the government led to the 
kidnapping of the young king and the establishment of the 
Archbishop of Cologne as regent; the government then 
assumed a more conciliatory attitude toward the new Pope, 
Alexander II., and eventually recognized him. 

In 1065 Henry IV. was declared of age, and took up 
the reins of government. He had exceptional talents, 
and if he had received better training and possessed suffi- 
cient moral earnestness, might have had a far difi'erent his- 
tory. But he hardly appreciated his position. He had no 
thought of a reform, and spent his time in the chase or with 
his mistresses, to enrich whom he robbed churches and 
sold offices. He was imperious and insolent, and the great 
dukes were soon alienated from him. Saxony was deeply 
offended by his conduct and ready to revolt. At last, in 



The Papacy and the Empire 141 

1069, a crisis was reached when he proposed to divorce 
his wife. The diet refused to consent to this, and formal 
complaints were made against him to Alexander II. The 
Pope excommunicated his council and summoned him to 
Rome. The death of the Pope, which occurred shortly 
afterward, put an end to the strife for a brief time. 

Hildebrand, who during several pontificates had been 
the power behind the throne, was now made Pope, it would 
seem by a popular demonstration. Apparently the decree 
of Nicholas was disregarded in that the Cardinal bishops 
did not nominate the candidate. The people demanded 
Hildebrand for their Bishop and the clergy of Rome 
elected him. He assumed the title of Gregory VII. Hil- 
debrand was not personally ambitious ; his conduct as 
Pope was determined by his theory of that office. He 
was not a theologian ; in defending one of his friends he 
almost incurred the charge of heresy. He was a practical 
man of affairs, as is indicated by the fact that he was first 
a deacon and then an archdeacon. He had served the Cu- 
ria principally by looking after its financial interests and 
affairs. He was a diplomat and politician, obtaining by 
artifice or well-timed concessions what was otherwise un- 
attainable. He made use even of heretics, if they could 
be of service to him. He could make compromises in 
everything except in the question of the supremacy of the 
Papacy. 

Till this time the Empire had been regarded as the King- 
dom of God on earth, and the Emperor as its head. Gregory Qof^ °i"e En 
declared this to be false. The Empire could not be the ghurdi*?'' 
Kingdom of God because it was based on force, and the 
Emperors were often ambitious, tyrannical, and unjust. 
On the other hand, the Church is based on righteousness. 
She can do no wrong. Gregory's fundamental position 
is, therefore, that the Church is the Kingdom of God, and 



142 A SJiort History of Mediceval Europe 



the Pope who is at its head has absohite authority over all 
the world. His whole programme may be deduced from this. 
But Gregory further declared that the Church must be 
reformed in accordance with the Word of God, must be 
really the Kingdom of God. His practical genius told 
him that the Church must be a compact unit, thoroughly 
organized and completely under the control of the Pope. 
The unity of the Church could be secured only by con- 
centrating all the power in one man. The Church must 
obey one will. This would be possible only when one 
creed and one liturgy were everywhere accepted, and when 
all the clergy were bound directly to the head of the 
Church, the Bishop of Rome. He therefore required all 
bishops to take an oath of allegiance to him similar to 
that which vassals rendered to their lords. He gave all 
the clergy the free right of appeal to himself, and en- 
couraged them to make use of it. This, of course, dimin- 
ished the power of the bishops and raised his own accord- 
ingly. He replaced the authority of synods by assuming 
the right to decide all questions, either in person or through 
his legates. His legates played much the same part in his 
government that the missi dominici had under Karl the 
Great. They were to oversee for him all the affairs of the 
state to which they were sent, control the action of synods, 
and bind all the countries to the Pope. They were to be 
his hands and eyes. He definitely assumed control over 
the Councils by declaring that he could act without the 
advice of Councils, and that their acts were invalid until 
sanctioned by him. He was supported in this by several 
writers on church law, whose controlling principle was the 
absolute authority of the Pope, and who, developing church 
law in accordance with Gregory's ideas, attributed more 
authority to the decrees of the Pope than to the action of 
Councils. 



The Papacy and the Empire 143 

From the very first Gregory put his theory into practice. 
In 1073 he wrote to the Spanish princes that the kingdom Gregory Vii. 
of Spain had from ancient times been under the jurisdiction porai rulers." 
of St. Peter, and, although it had been occupied by Bar- 
barians, it had never ceased to belong to the Bishop of 
Rome. In 1074, in a letter to Solomon, king of Hungary, 
he claimed that country on the ground that it had been 
given and actually transferred to St. Peter by king Stephen. 
He made the same claims to Russia and to Provence, to 
Bohemia, Sardinia, Corsica, and Saxony. He made the 
duke of Dalmatia his subject, and gave him the title of 
king. France, he said, owed him a fixed amount of tribute. 
He laid claim to Denmark, but its king resisted him suc- 
cessfully. He wished William the Conqueror to hold Eng- 
land as his fief, and William, though refusing to acknowl- 
edge the Pope as his feudal lord, yet consented to make 
the payment of the Peter's pence binding on England. 

In a council at Rome (1075) Gregory forbade the mar- 
riage of the clergy, as well as simony in all its forms. He 
threatened to excommunicate all bishops and abbots who 
should receive their offices from the hand of any layman, 
and every Emperor, king, or temporal ruler, who should 
perform the act of investiture. This was a hard blow at 
all rulers, but especially at the Emperor, because the Ger- 
man clergy were his principal support and were the holders 
of large tracts of land. If the Pope should be successful 
in carrying this point, the Empire would be almost de- 
stroyed. 

The Pope further cited Henry (December, 1075) to ap- 
pear at Rome and explain his conduct in keeping at his 
court certain men whom Gregory had excommunicated, 
and threatened him with the ban if he should refuse to 
come. Henry regarded this as a declaration of war, and 
answered it with defiance. At the council of Worms 



144 ^ Short History of Mcdiceval Eiirope 



Gregory's 
allies. 



(January, 1076) he charged the Pope with having obtained 
the papal dignity by improper means, and declared him 
deposed. 

The war was begun. Gregory could count on the sup- 
port of the Normans in southern Italy, the Pataria in 
Lombardy, Matilda, the great countess of Tuscany, and 
her allies, the Saxons, the discontented nobles of Germany, 
and that rapidly increasing class of people all over the 
Empire who were becoming imbued with the ideas of the 
Henry's allies. Cluniac reform. Henry had for his support a large num- 
ber of his faithful subjects who remained uninfluenced by 
the action of the Pope, a large part of the clergy who were 
patriotic but probably guilty of simony, the imperial party 
in Italy, and all those who for any reason were opposed to 
the papal control in Italy. 

Henry's letter of deposition (January, 1076) to Gregory 
was bold and vigorous. He declared that he had endured 
the misdeeds of Gregory because he had wished to preserve 
the honor of the apostolic throne. This conduct the Pope 
had attributed to fear, and had, therefore, dared threaten to 
deprive Henry of the royal power, as if this had been re- 
ceived from him, and not from God. Henry had received 
his office through the Lord Jesus Christ, while Gregory had 
obtained the papal power without God's help. The steps 
by which he had mounted to the throne were cunning, 
bribery, popular favor, and violence. While seated on the 
throne of peace he had destroyed peace. He had attacked 
the king, God's Anointed, who, by the teaching of all the 
holy fathers, could be judged and deposed by God alone. 
The Church had never deposed even Julian the Apostate, 
preferring to leave him to God's judgment. The true Pope, 
Peter, had commanded all to fear God and honor the king, 
but Gregory has no fear of God. Let him, therefore, va- 
cate the throne of St. Peter and depart. Henry, with his 



Charges and 

counter 

charges. 



The Papacy and the Empire 145 

bishops, pronounces the anathema upon him. Let another 
occupy the papal throne who will not cloak his violence 
under the name of religion. Henry, with all his bishops, 
orders Gregory to vacate the throne at once. 

The reply of Gregory (February, 1076) was equally im- 
perious and vigorous. He calls on Peter, Paul, and all the 
saints to witness that he had unwillingly accepted the papal 
office thrust upon him by the Roman Church. This was 
sufficient proof that the Christian world had been com- 
mitted to him. Relying upon the help of St. Peter and 
God, he therefore deposes Henry, because, in his unspeak- 
able pride, he has revolted against the Church, and he ab- 
solves all his subjects from obedience to him. Because 
Henry persists in his claims and disobedience to the Pope, 
Gregory excommunicates him. He expects that St. Peter 
will make his anathema prevail, in order to make the world 
know that he, Peter, is the rock on which the Church is 
built, and that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. 
This was, indeed, a new language in the mouth of Gregory. 
No Pope had ever made such claims or spoken in such a 
tone to the Emperor before. For the first time the cla* « 
is openly made that the Empire is a dependency of the 
Church. 

Encouraged by the action of the Pope, the dissatisfiea 
nobles of Germany held a meeting at Tribur (October, 
1076), to which they did not admit the king. After some 
resistance, Henry was compelled to accept the terms, known 
as the Oppenheim agreement, which this meeting dictated 
to him. He agreed to remain in Speier and make his 
peace with the Pope before the end of February of the fol- 
lowing year ; to lay aside all the royal insignia, which was Henry IV. 
equivalent to resigning his kingship ; and to present him- ^P°^^ 
self in February, 1077, in Augsburg and submit to trial be- 
fore the council, which was to be presided over by the 



146 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

Pope. Nothing could have been more acceptable to Greg- 
ory than to come to Germany and preside over a national 
council and try the king ; but Henry had no intention of 
permitting this to take place. Gregory indeed set out for 
Germany, but while waiting for an escort through Lom- 
bardy, was alarmed at the news that Henry had escaped 
from Speier, had crossed the Alps in the dead of winter 
and was already in Lombardy, where he had been received 
with every mark of affection by the people. Being in 
doubt whether Henry's intentions were hostile or peace- 

Canossa. able, Gregory withdrew to the castle of Canossa to await 

developments. Henry soon informed him through friends 
that he had come to make peace and to receive absolution. 
The Pope refused to receive him and demanded that he re- 
turn to Germany and present himself at Augsburg accord- 
ing to the agreement which he had made with his barons. 
After much beseeching, however, the Pope yielded, ad- 
mitted Henry to his presence and removed the ban from 
him. 

Henry outwits Henry had been deeply humiliated, but he had accom- 
regory. plished his purpose ; he had been freed from the ban of 

excommunication and had thereby deprived his rebellious 
subjects of all show of legality ; and he had robbed Greg- 
ory of the best part of his victory by preventing his coming 
to Germany to preside over the national assembly. Greg- 
ory had, on the other hand, shown his power by keeping an 
Emperor standing as a penitent at his door. The Em- 
peror never wholly recovered from this humiliation, but 
the Pope had in reality overshot the mark. The people 
thought him too severe and unforgiving. Although the 
world regarded the immediate victory as Gregory's, it was 
really Henry's, for from this time on Henry's power in- 
creased and Gregory's diminished. 

It soon became apparent that Henry had been insincere 



The Papacy and the Empire 147 

in his confession and promises. He had plotted against 
Gregory even on the way to Canossa, and as soon as he 
reached Germany he began to plan for his self-defence. 
Still, however, his enemies, principally Saxons and Sua- 
bians, continued their opposition to him. The war dragged 
on for years, during which time the Pope deserted him and 
put him under the ban, and two anti-kings were set up 
against him. By the greatest good fortune, however, 
Henry was eventually victorious in Germany. He then set 
up an anti-pope and invaded Italy in order to depose Greg- 
ory. After three years of fighting he took Rome, had 
himself and his wife crowned, and besieged Gregory in the 
Castle San Angelo. Gregory, in the meanwhile, had sum- 
moned his faithful subject, Robert Guiscard, who now ap- 
peared with a large force, drove off Henry, and rescued the 
Pope. Rome was given over to pillage by his Norman 
troops, and the people were so angry at this that Gregory Gregory vii. 
did not dare remain in the city longer. He withdrew with Ro^g ^^°"^ 
his Normans to the south, where he died, in 1085, in Sa- ^'^^» ^°^5- 
lerno. 

Gregory had made great claims without being able fully 
to realize them. He had made concessions to William the 
Conqueror, and to Philip I. , of France, who both still pos- 
sessed the right of investiture. Henry IV. had, in many 
respects, held his own against him. His legates in Spain 
were abused, and he himself died in exile. But he had es- The work of 
tablished the custom of sending papal legates to all parts of ^^^^^'"^ 
Europe ; he had put his own authority above that of a 
Council ; he had destroyed the independence of the bishops 
by giving to all the clergy the free right of appeal to the 
Pope ; he had made the celibacy of the clergy the rule of 
the Church, and he had freed the Papacy from all lay in- 
terference, whether imperial or Roman, by establishing the 
College of Cardinals. He had formulated the claims of the 



148 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

Papacy to absolute power and marked out its future policy. 
There can be no doubt that he had modelled the Papacy 
after the ancient Empire. The Pope, according to his ideas, 
was to succeed to the place of Augustus Caesar. Even his 
times understood this, and poems were addressed to him 
as Caesar. He was far more Roman than Christian. His 
stoicism was worthy to be placed by the side of that of the 
Scipios. His last words, '' I have loved justice and hated 
iniquity," were the product, not of the Christian, but of 
the Roman, spirit. 

Urban II. Urban H. (1087-99) was able to carry the war to a suc- 

cessful conclusion. He added Bavaria to his allies, and 
persuaded Lombardy to desert Henry. Even Henry's son, 
Conrad, was false to his father and joined the papal party, 
for his perfidy being made king of Lombardy. In 1094 
Urban H. celebrated his victory by making a triumphal 
journey through Italy and France. Everywhere he was 
received with the greatest honors. At Piacenza he held a 
great council, and a little later another at Clermont in 
France, where he proclaimed the first crusade. 

The last years of Henry IV. were made bitter by the re- 
volt of his second son, Henry, who made war on his father 
and compelled him to resign. But as soon as he came to 
the throne Henry V. (i 106-25) broke with the papal party, 
took up his father's counsellors and policy, and renewed the 
struggle with the Pope. After several attempts to make an 

The Concor- agreement, the question was temporarily settled by the Con- 

dat^of Worms. ^^^^^^ of Worms (1 1 2 2). 

Its terms are as follows : The Emperor concedes to the 
Pope the right to invest the clergy with spiritual authority, 
which was symbolized by the ring and the staff; bishops 
and abbots are to be canonically elected in the presence of 
the Emperor or of his representative, but contested elections 
shall be decided by the Emperor, who also has the right to 



TJie Papacy and the Empire 149 

invest the clergy with their lands and all their civil and 
judicial functions. This form of investiture was the same 
as that of the counts and other laymen. Its symbol was the 
sceptre. In Germany the oath of allegiance was to be taken 
before investiture; in other lands, within six months after 
investiture. This was a compromise in which the Pope got 
the best of it. The election was the important thing, and 
the Emperor lost control of it. 

Henry V. renewed the policy of Otto the Great toward 
the Barbarians on the eastern frontier by encouraging the 
missionary efforts of the Bishop of Bamberg, through whose 
zeal the Slavs of Pomerania were converted and German- 
ized. The opposition which he met from his nobles led 
him to try to win the favor of the cities of the Empire, 
which were rapidly growing strong and rich, in order to 
set them over against the nobility. He seems to have recog- 
nized in a dim way the powder and importance of the citizen 
class, and to have endeavored to make it his ally. At the 
death of Henry V. Lothar, duke of Saxony, was elected to Lothar the 
succeed him. He owed his election to the fact that he made 1125-38. 
favorable terms with the papal party and agreed to act in 
accordance with the interests of the Church. He even 
wrote to the Pope, asking him to confirm his election. His 
election was contested by the Hohenstaufen, but after some 
years of civil strife they acknowledged him as king and 
made peace with him. He was able to carry on the wise 
policy of his predecessor toward the Slavs ; he imitated 
Henry III. in proclaiming a peace of the land and threat- 
ening with punishment all who should break it. 

In 1 130 a double papal election took place, which threat- 
ened to disrupt the Papacy. One of those elected. Inno- 
cent II. (1130-43), went to France, where he won the sup- 
port of Bernhard of Clairvaux, then the most influential 
man in Europe. Through the influence of Bernhard, In- 



150 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Lothar and 
Innocent II. 



Conrad III. 
1138-52. 



Frederick I. 
1152-90. 



nocent obtained the favor of the kings of both France and 
Germany, Lothar, of Germany, even going to Italy, and 
by arms estabhshing Innocent in Rome. As a reward. In- 
nocent crowned him Emperor and invested him with Tus- 
cany. By accepting this fief, Lothar became the Pope's 
feudal subject. The Pope evidently wished to make his 
victory over the Emperor seem as great as possible, and, 
taking advantage of Lothar' s yielding disposition, caused a 
picture to be painted representing the Emperor kneeling at 
his feet, and receiving the imperial crown at his hands. It 
was intended that this picture should express the idea that 
the Emperor was receiving the imperial crown as a fief from 
the Pope. 

Roger 11. of Sicily had sold his services to the anti-pope, 
Anaclete II., on condition that he be made king. After 
Innocent had made himself master of Rome, Roger con- 
tinued his opposition, and Innocent called on Lothar to re- 
duce him. Lothar's campaign ended disastrously, how- 
ever, and the Pope was compelled to make peace with 
Roger and confirm his title of king. At the death of Lothar 
Conrad of Hohenstaufen was elected in a very irregular way 
as his successor (1138-52). He was, however, utterly un- 
able to rule the country. Although the disorder in the 
kingdom was growing, Conrad permitted himself to be per- 
suaded to go on a crusade. During his absence from the 
country, violence, private war, and political disintegration 
increased. He returned in 1149, and added to the chaos 
of the period by beginning a war with his most powerful 
vassal, Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony. His reign ended 
in disaster. 

Frederick I., known as Barbarossa, was then elected king 
(1152-90). Since he was descended from both the rival 
houses, Guelf and Ghibelline, it was hoped that he would 
put an end to the enmity and struggle between them. It 



The Papacy and the Empire 151 

was not the fault of Frederick that he did not. He sought 
to concihate his opponents in every way. He restored 
Bavaria to Henry the Lion, favored him in other ways, and 
really left him no grounds for dissatisfaction except that he 
was not king. Frederick may be said to have had two poli- His two 
cies, one as king of Germany and the other as Emperor of P° ^^^^^' 
the world. He tried to make Germany a state by unifying 
the government, and repressing all violence and oppression. 
As Emperor, his one ideal was to restore the ancient Roman 
Empire. The great Roman Emperors were his models. 
In the eleventh century there had begun a revival in the 
study of Roman law, and Frederick at once pressed it into 
his service. He surrounded himself with men who were 
versed in the Codex of Justinian, and from these he re- 
ceived the imperial ideas which he tried to realize in his 
Empire. These lawyers were impressed with the spirit of 
absolutism in the Roman laws, and chose such maxims to 
lay before Frederick as would increase his feeling of sov- 
ereignty. They told him that the will of the prince was 
law, and that the Emperor was absolute sovereign of the 
world. The absolutism of Frederick was not the outcome 
of a lust for personal power, but the logical product of his 
conception of his office. 

In 1 1 54 Frederick crossed the Alps into Lombardy, and 
pitched his camp on the famous Roncaglian plain. A diet 
was announced, and the cities of Lombardy ordered to send 
their consuls to meet him. Most of the cities did so, but 
Milan and some of her allies refused to obey. There was 
a struggle going on between the smaller cities and Milan, 
who had been behaving very tyrannically. Pavia appealed 
to Frederick against Milan and Tortona ; and when Tor- 
tona disregarded his commands, he besieged and destroyed 
it. Milan was not at this time humbled, since Frederick's 
attention was called to Rome. 



Brescia. 



152 A Short History of Medicsval Europe 

The people of Rome had not forgotten that their city 
had once been the mistress of the world. They were rest- 
less under all control, whether imperial or papal. They 
longed for the ancient power and independence of the city, 
and had dreams of restoring her to her former proud posi- 
tion. This was the cause of their frequent opposition to 
the Popes. The papal supremacy was incompatible with 
their political ideas and aspirations. In 1143 the com- 
mon people and the inferior nobility revolted, drove out 
the Pope, and restored what was considered the ancient 
Arnold of government of the city. Two years later Arnold of Bres- 
cia came to Rome, and was soon the most influential per- 
son in the city. He had been born at Brescia and had 
therefore come into contact with the ideas of the Pataria, 
especially in regard to the marriage of the clergy. He had 
been in France and had heard the theories of the great 
heretic Abelard, and, having adopted them, wished to put 
them into practice. He was made a priest and drawn to 
Rome soon after the revolution of 1143. His programme 
was somewhat extensive. His sympathies were with the 
common people as against the nobility. He was filled 
with the idea which had cropped out at various times in 
the Church, and was soon to become a central reforming 
principle of St. Francis, i.e., the sinfulness of property. 
He declared that the land should not be held by the rich, 
but should be common property. Everyone had the right 
to the use of a certain amount of land. Since individual 
possession is sinful, the Church, of course, should be with- 
out property. But he went a step farther, and declared 
that the individual also should live in poverty. He at- 
tacked the clergy for their crimes and worldliness. It was 
to him a mark of the deepest corruption of the clergy that 
they had so great a share in the administration of civil 
affairs. ** Clergymen with property, bishops with regalia. 



TJie Papacy and the Evipire 153 

and monks with possessions could not be saved." The 
Church needed a thorough reform, and he was wise enough 
to see that the beginning should be made with the Pope. 
Arnold demanded that the Church give up all her posses- 
sions and live in poverty, which, he said, was the law of 
Christ. Fired by his preaching the mob began to sack the 
monasteries. If it was wrong for the clergy to have prop- 
erty, they ought to be deprived of it at once ! 

In 1 1 54 Nicholas Breakspeare, the only Englishman 
who has ever occupied the chair of St. Peter, was elected 
Pope and took the name of Hadrian IV. He boldly took Hadrian iv., 
up the struggle with the republican party in the city. He ^4-59- 
got possession of the Vatican quarter, and intrenched him- 
self there. He put the city under the interdict, and re- 
moved it only when Arnold was exiled. By losing Arnold, 
the city lost its best leader. 

It was at this juncture that Frederick Barbarossa came Frederick I. in 
into Italy. The Pope went to meet him, made charges 
against Arnold, and demanded his death. The republican 
party also sent an embassy to Frederick to tell him that the 
people of Rome were the source of the imperial power and 
were willing to make him Emperor if he would take an 
oath to respect the rights of the city and her officials, and 
pay them a large sum of money. Frederick was enraged at 
their insolence, and told them that Karl the Great and 
Otto I. had acquired the imperial title by conquest ; 
Rome's power was a thing of the past ; her glory and 
authority had passed to the Germans ; it was not for a 
conquered people to dictate terms to their master. Hadri- 
an IV., however, was willing to make better terms with 
Frederick. He agreed to crown him Emperor on condi- 
tion that Frederick restore him to his place in Rome and 
deliver Arnold into his power. Frederick was thereupon 
crowned, the city was reduced to subjection, and Arnold 



1 54 A Short History of Mcdiceval Europe 

taken prisoner, and, at the command of Hadrian, burned at 
the stake as a heretic. 

The relations between Frederick and Hadrian had not 
been altogether satisfactory. At their first meeting Fred- 
erick had refused to hold the stirrup of the Pope because, 
as he said, it was not the custom for the king to do so. 
Hadrian was enraged at this, and would not give Frederick 
the kiss of peace. The quarrel was finally patched up, but 
only temporarily. The claims of Pope and Emperor were 
so conflicting that there could be no lasting peace be- 
tween them. 
The Besan^on The Besan9on episode showed the temper of the two 
episo e, 1157. p^j-j-jgg ^^^ indicated the speedy outburst of the storm. The 
Archbishop Eskil of Lund had been in Rome, and while on 
his return homeward through Burgundy was seized, robbed, 
beaten, and imprisoned. Although Frederick was informed 
of this, he made no attempt to set him free or to punish 
those who had committed the outrage. One reason for this 
indifference was to be found in the fact that Frederick was 
very angry at Eskil because he was supporting the ambition 
of the Scandinavian Church to become independent — an 
ambition at the bottom of which was, of course, national 
feeling. Frederick also wished to show his displeasure 
with the treaty which had just been made between the 
Pope and William of Sicily, in which the Emperor's 
rights had been entirely disregarded. While Frederick was 
at Besangon (October 24-28, 1157) two legates appeared 
from the Pope bearing a letter in which the Emperor was 
roundly rebuked for his neglect. When they first pre- 
sented themselves before Frederick they delivered the 
greetings of the Pope and the cardinals, adding that the 
Pope greeted him as a father, the cardinals, as brothers. 
This form of salutation was regarded as strange, but was not 
resented by Frederick. On the following day they were 



The Papacy and the Empire 155 

formally received by the Emperor, and laid before him 
Hadrian's letter. After rebuking Frederick for his indif- 
ference, the Pope confesses that he does not know the cause 
of it. Hadrian feels that he has not offended in any respect 
against Frederick ; on the contrary, he has always treated 
him as a dear son. Frederick should recall how, two years 
before, his mother, the Holy Roman Church, had received 
him and had treated him with the greatest affection, and, by 
gladly conferring upon him the imperial crown, had given 
him the highest dignity and honor. " Nor are we sorry," 
he continued, "■ that we fulfilled your desires in all things ; 
but even if your Excellence had received greater fiefs (bene- 
ficia) from our hands, if that were possible, in considera- 
tion of the great services which you may render to the 
Church and to us, we should still have good grounds for 
rejoicing." The reading of the letter produced the wild- 
est sort of scene. Never before had the Empire been thus 
openly called a fief of the Papacy. The princes about 
Frederick angrily remonstrated with the legates for making 
such claims. To this one of them replied by asking, 
*' From whom then did the Emperor receive the Empire, 
if not from the Pope ? " The question almost cost him his 
life, for the hot-blooded Otto von Wittelsbach rushed upon 
him and would have slain him but for the interference of 
the Emperor. The legates wxre ordered to return at once 
to Italy, and were not permitted to proceed farther on the 
business of the Pope. 

Whether Hadrian meant that beneficium should be un- 
derstood as fief or not, is really of small consequence. The 
important thing was that he plainly treated the imperial 
crown as if it were something entirely within his power to 
give or withhold. This was little less offensive to Freder- 
ick than the word fief, because it was his belief that the 
imperial crown was attached to the German crown. The 



156 A SJLort History of Mediceval Europe 



The 

ICniperor's 

manifesto. 



Hadrian's 
explanation. 



king of Germany had a right to the imperial crown, the 
Pope merely had the right to crown him. 

Frederick then published a manifesto to his people, re- 
counting the claims of the Pope as contained in the letter, 
and in opposition to these declared that he had received 
the imperial crown from God alone through the election 
by the princes. Jesus had taught that the world was to be 
ruled by two swords, the spiritual and the temporal. Peter 
had commanded that all men should fear God and honor 
the king, therefore, whoever said that the Empire was a fief 
of the Papacy was opposed to St. Peter and guilty of lying. 

Hadrian IV. then wrote an open letter to the clergy of 
Germany, expressing surprise and indignation at the turn 
affairs had taken. It was a most diplomatic letter, written 
for the purpose of winning the German clergy to his side. 
Some of them, however, were true to their Emperor, and 
wrote Hadrian a letter in which they embodied the answer 
of Frederick. It was of the same tenor as his manifesto, 
and claimed that the Empire was not a beneficium (fief) of 
the Pope, but that Frederick owed it to the favor (bene- 
ficium) of God. Frederick was also still angry about the 
picture which the Pope had had made representing Lothar 
on his knees receiving the crown from the Pope. The 
Pope, he said, was trying to make an authoritative principle, 
basing it simply upon a picture. Hadrian now saw that 
he had gone too far, and wrote a letter to Frederick in 
which he explained that ''beneficium" was composed of 
'' bono " and '' facio," meaning not '' fief," but a '' kind 
deed " or '' favor." By " contulimiis'' he had meant only 
"■ impositwms.'" Hadrian succeeded in quieting Frederick, 
but the battle had been merely put off; it was not ended. 

Frederick next turned his attention to the cities of Lom- 
bardy, which for a hundred years or more had been left to 
take care of themselves. They had improved the time by 



TJic Papacy and the Empire 157 

developing an independent municipal government. Milan 
was first reduced. It was agreed, however, that the city 
should continue to elect its officials, but that the Emperor 
should have the right to confirm them. Another diet was The second 
announced to be held in the Roncaglian Plain, and the Diet!^^^'^" 
cities were ordered to send their officials to it. It was 
Frederick's wish to break down the independent spirit of 
the cities. It was during his stay in Italy that Frederick 
had come into contact with the lawyers of Bologna, and 
learned from them the leading ideas of Roman Law. An- 
cient customs were revived, and Frederick renewed his 
claims to the regalia (that is, to the duchies, counties, 
marches, the office of consul, the right to coin money, col- 
lect taxes, customs, duties, etc.). He declared that in the 
future all the important officers of the city would be ap- 
pointed by him and the people should approve them. 
Representatives of all the cities helped frame the rights of 
the Emperor and agreed to observe them. He proceeded 
to put his claims into force. He sent his representatives 
throughout the country to establish in every city his offi- 
cials. In Milan this caused an uprising, and the gates were 
closed against the Emperor's messengers. Frederick laid 
siege to the city (April, 1159), which held out nearly three 
years. In February, 1162, it could resist no longer. The 
people tried in every way to appease Frederick, but he re- 
mained deaf to their entreaties. The walls of the city were Milan 
razed, the inhabitants driven out, and many of the nobility ^^1^'^^^ ' 
kept as hostages. 

In the meanwhile the quarrel had broken out afresh be- 
tween the Pope and the Emperor. In 11 59 Hadrian made 
sweeping demands of Frederick in regard to the possession 
of the lands of Matilda, the collection of feudal dues by 
Frederick from the papal estates, and the full sovereignty 
in Rome. The Emperor, of course, refused these demands, 



158 A Short History of Mcdiceval Europe 

and the Pope prepared for the struggle. He sought help 
from Roger of Sicily, and the Greek Emperor, and in- 
trigued with the cities of Lombardy. In 1159 Hadrian 
died, and the cardinals thereupon elected the man who had 
acted as the spokesman of Hadrian at Besangon, Roland 
Alexander III. Bandinelh, who assumed the name of Alexander III. He 
now took up the quarrel and spent his time endeavoring to 
find allies. Frederick, however, set up an anti-pope, and 
was so successful in his opposition to Alexander III. that 
the Pope was compelled to leave Rome and seek a refuge 
in France (1161). Frederick seemed to have won the day. 
His officials were in all the cities; Milan was destroyed 
and the Pope an exile. But his very success was the cause 
of his defeat ; he had borne himself as an Emperor of the 
old school. His absolutism was tyranny to the cities, and 
hence they were eager to find some way of avenging them- 
selves. The head of the opposition was Alexander III. 
In 1 165 he returned to Rome, excommunicated the Em- 
peror, and released his subjects from their oath of alle- 
giance to him. Alexander was a diplomat and a dema- 
gogue ; he was hostile to the independence of the Lombard 
cities, but because they could help him he sought their 
alliance. For nearly fifteen years this able man led the 
opposition to Frederick, and the victory over the Emperor 
was due in a large measure to his ability and efforts. The 
next year (1166) Frederick went again into Italy with a 
large force to punish the rebels and to put the new anti- 
pope, Paschalis, in the chair of St. Peter. After a siege 
he took Rome. Paschalis was established as Pope and a 
few days later recrowned Frederick and his wife in St. 
Peter's. A pest broke out shortly afterward and Frederick, 
alarmed at the great mortality among his troops, hastened 
back to Germany. As fast as he retreated the cities behind 
him revolted, and he barely escaped with his life. The 



The Papacy and the Empire 159 

cities now entered into the famous Lombard League (i 167). The Lombard 
Milan was rebuilt by the aid of them all, and assumed the ^^^ue, n 7. 
leading position in the league. Pavia still remained true 
to the Emperor, but to keep it in check the league founded 
a new city on the border of its territory and named it 
Alexandria in honor of the Pope. It was not till 11 74 
that Frederick was in a position to reenter Italy. Then 
the Emperor himself laid siege to Alexandria while some 
of his troops overran Tuscany and Umbria. Alexandria 
was very strong and the siege lasted for months. Over- 
tures of peace were made, and, as winter was approaching, 
Frederick withdrew to Pavia. Again and again he called 
on the German princes to come to his assistance, but Henry 
the Lion thought it an excellent opportunity to humble 
the Emperor and refused to assist him. In May, 11 76, 
the troops of the league attacked Frederick at Legnano, Legnano, 
and won a decisive victory. It was even thought for ^^^ * 
awhile that the Emperor had lost his life in the battle. 
Frederick realized the situation ; he had been beaten, and 
was therefore ready to make peace on the cities' terms. 
He met Alexander III. in Venice (117 7) and made a truce 
for six years. He confessed his wrong deeds and begged 
the Pope to remove the ban from him. Six years later, at 
Constance, the treaty of peace was signed which granted the The Treaty of 
cities substantially all that they had demanded. The over- 1183. ' 
lordship of the Emperor was recognized, but it was merely 
nominal, and the independence of the cities was practically 
admitted. It was a bitter humiliation for Frederick, but 
he could not escape it. Being pressed in Germany by the 
Guelf family he needed the support of the Pope and there 
was nothing for him to do except to abide by the decision 
reached by the war. 

A crisis was reached in the struggle between the Ghibel- 
line and the Guelf families in 1176, when Henry the Lion 



i6o A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

refused to help Frederick in his war against the Lombard 
League. After returning to Germany, Frederick proceeded 
to punish him. He cited Henry to appear before him, 
and on Henry's refusal, deposed and banished him. Henry 
resisted, but was defeated in battle and begged for mercy. 
Frederick permitted him to retain his private estates. 

Although Frederick had not been able to conquer Sici- 
ly, he provided for its annexation by marrying his son, 
Henry VI., to Constance, heiress to the crown of that coun- 
try. The Pope foresaw that this marriage would greatly 
strengthen the Empire, and so he renewed hostihties, in 
which he was aided by the Archbishop of Cologne and 
other German princes. In the meantime the news reached 
the west that Jerusalem had fallen into the hands of the 
Saracens, and, according to the ideas of the times, its re- 
covery was regarded as the most pressing business of the 
hour. Clement III. was willing to make almost any con- 
The Crusade cessions if he could enlist Frederick for a crusade. An 
o re enc . jjgj.ggj-,^ent -^^g made in which Frederick seemed to have 
won the victory. He was now ready to go on the crusade. 
He placed the management of affairs in Germany in the 
hands of Henry VI. , who took the title of king of the Ger- 
mans, and set out in the spring of 1189. Henry the Lion 
refused to accompany him and was banished for three 
years. An account of this crusade will be given in another 
place. Frederick died by drowning in one of the moun- 
tain streams of Cilicia, June 10, 11 90. 
In Italy the In Italy Alexander III. found that, although he had over- 

spoi s ivi e . ^Q^-^-jg Frederick, he had not won the whole victory for him- 
self. He was unable to unite all Italy under his own au- 
thority. The cities of Lombardy and the kingdom of 
Sicily secured their own advantages and went on their way 
of independence. During the struggle with Frederick there 
had been several anti -popes established by the Emperor. 



The Papacy and the Empire i6i 

The schism was ended in 1 178 by the surrender of Calixtus 
III., who found it impossible to sustain himself after the 
Emperor had made peace with Alexander. To guard 
against disputed elections in the future, it was decreed in 
the Lateran Synod of 11 79, that whoever should receive the 
votes of two-thirds of the Cardinals should be regarded as 
the duly elected Pope. There was nothing said about the 
Emperor's right to confirm the election, nor was any part 
accorded the people and clergy of Rome. The whole mat- 
ter is in the hands of the Cardinals from this time on. 

Alexander III. deserves great credit from the papal point The high posi- 
of view for the work of his pontificate. His power was rec- ^er 111. 
ognized all over the west as that of no Pope before him 
had been. His immediate successors were unable to main- 
tain all the advantages he had won. Before the end of the 
century Innocent III., the most imperial of all the Popes, 
was to appear, and realize all that previous Popes had 
dreamed of; but before him there was to be another strug- 
gle in Rome. The independent spirit of the people of the 
city reasserted itself, and Lucius III. (i 181-85) and Urban 
III. (1185-87) spent most of their pontificates in exile. 
Clement III. (i 187-91) succeeded in regaining the mastery 
in Rome, and all power was made over to him. The Pope 
had seldom been so secure in the city before. But a new 
danger was threatening. The marriage of Henry VI. with 
Constance of Sicily might, at any moment, lead to the es- 
tablishment of the imperial power in the south, and the ad- 
dition of Sicily and all the southern part of Italy to the 
Empire. The Pope would then be between two fires. 

The first days of the reign of Henry VI. were filled with Henry vi., 
anxiety. Henry the Lion broke his royal word and at- 
tacked Henry VI. as soon as Frederick had set out for the 
east. The news of the death of William, king of Sicily, 
soon reached Germany, and a few days later the sad news of 



1 62 A Short History of Medics va I Europe 

the death of Frederick was received. Henry VI. made 
peace with Henry the Lion, made provision for the govern- 
ment in Germany during his absence, and hastened into 
Italy. He was crowned at Rome and went on to Sicily to 
secure the possession of that kingdom ; but the people of 
Sicily had elected Tancred king, and Henry was unable to 
accomplish anything there. The outlook was indeed dark, 
for there were powerful enemies allied against him. The 
combination of Richard the Lion Heart of England, the 
Guelf family in Germany with Henry the Lion at its head, 
and Tancred in Sicily would probably be able to break the 
power of the Hohenstaufen. But fortunately for Henry 
VL, Richard was taken prisoner on his way home from his 
crusade and delivered into his hands. The son of Henry 
the Lion fell in love with a cousin of the Emperor, and in 
order to obtain her hand, made peace with him. Henry the 
Lion, now an old man, gave up the struggle and retired to 
his estates, and Henry VL was able in a second campaign 
to get complete possession of Sicily. 

Li his ambitious schemes Henry VL had no regard 
for the Pope. He seized the lands of Matilda (Tuscany), 
for which the Pope put him under the ban ; but not in the 
least frightened by this, Henry continued his efforts to get 
possession of all Italy. He is said at this time to have 
Bold plans of planned the complete destruction of the papal state by 
Henry VI. adding it to his own territory. He also turned now to try 
his fortune in the east. He planned a crusade, the real ob- 
ject of which was first of all the conquest of Constantinople. 
The Greek Empire was, indeed, in a chaotic condition, and 
he hoped to win its crown and establish himself in Constan- 
tinople, from which vantage-point he might easily carry on 
the war against the Saracens. He went first to Sicily in 
order to put down a revolt and punish those who were 
hostile to him, intending then to proceed against Constan- 



The Papacy and the Empire 163 

tinople, but died there after a very brief illness (1197), 
leaving a son, Frederick 11. , only three years old. His 
great plans and hopes were destroyed, and the Empire was 
thrown back into the anarchy caused by a contested imperial 
election. At the same time Innocent III. became Pope, a 
man of strong will and great ability, full of theocratic ideas 
and the desire to realize them. 

Innocent III. (i 198-12 16) represents the last and highest innocent ill., 
stage in the development of the Papacy. He was a jurist, hJ^p'ro^.'^ '^" 
trained in the schools of Paris and Bologna. He looked at g^^"^"^^- 
everything from the jurist's point of view, and endeavored 
to reduce to a legal form and basis all the claims of the 
Papacy. He was not personally ambitious, but fully per- 
suaded that he was acting in accordance with the best in- 
terests of the Church, and even with the plans of God in 
everything that he did. He believed that the government 
of the world was a theocracy, and that he himself was the 
vicar of God on earth. He pushed to the extreme the ideas 
of the supremacy of the Papacy over all rulers, and actually 
realized them in many respects. His programme may be 
summed up under the following heads : i. The Pope must 
be absolute master in Italy, which must therefore be freed 
from the control of all foreigners ; hence the Empire must 
not be allowed to unite any part of the peninsula to itself; 
the papal state must be strengthened ; the political factions 
in the city must be kept out of power. 2. All the states of 
the west must be put under the control of the Papacy; neither 
king nor Emperor may be independent of the Pope, but must 
submit to him in all things. 3. The Church in the east, 
and the Holy Land must be recovered from the Moslems, 
and the Greek Church purified of its heresy and reunited to 
the Church of the west ; all heretics must be destroyed ; 
the law and worship of the Church must be made to conform 
to papal ideas. 



164 A SJiort History of Mediceval Europe 

In Sicily the young king, Frederick II., was among ene- 
Innocent and mies, and when his mother died. Innocent was made his giiar- 
his ward. dian. He performed his duties toward the boy with great 

conscientiousness, supplying him with the ablest teachers, 
giving him the best education possible, caring for his in- 
terests in Sicily, and protecting him against his rebellious 
subjects. 

In Germany there was a contested election, which Inno- 
Philip of cent was asked to settle. Philip of Suabia, after trying in 

?i97-i2o8, and vain to secure the election of his nephew, Frederick II., 
Otto IV., ^^,^g himself made kino: by a larsje number of princes. The 

I197-1215. o ^ o 1 

Guelf family, however, elected one of their number. Otto 
IV. Innocent III. decided in favor of Otto, because, as 
he said, Otto was the proper person for the office and de- 
voted to the Church, while Philip was a persecutor of the 
Church. Philip had declared that he would defend his 
claim to all the possessions of the Empire, while Otto IV. 
had taken an oath that he would not interfere with the 
papal claims, but would defend all the possessions of the 
Papacy. Civil war ensued. After defeating Otto and mak- 
ing himself master of Germany, Philip was murdered 
(1208), and Otto, being now without a rival, was recognized 
throughout Germany. 

Otto IV., however, now that he had secured the crown, 
changed his policy toward the Pope, broke his oath, and 
demanded Sicily and Tuscany on the ground that they 
were parts of the Empire. He was successful in arms in 
southern Italy, but before the conquest was completed the 
Pope had raised a revolt among the German princes and 
Frederick II., put forth Frederick II. as a candidate for the German 
1215-50. crown. At the invitation of some of the German nobles, 

Frederick, although a boy, went to Germany, made an al- 
liance with Philip, king of France, and in three years made 
himself undisputed master of Germany. 



TJic Papacy and the E)iipire i6 



Innocent III. followed out his policy with great vigor. 
Frederick held Sicily as a fief of the Papacy. In central 
Italy Innocent made a league with the cities, drove out the 
Emperor's officials, and established his own in their place. 
The king of Portugal acknowledged his authority and paid 
him tribute ; the king of Aragon became his feudal sub- 
ject, and the king of Leon was compelled to yield obedi- 
ence to him. In Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Servia, and 
in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Innocent was able to 
make good his claims, at least in part. In France Inno- 
cent interfered in the family affairs of the king, compel- 
ling him to take back his wife, whom he had divorced on 
insufficient grounds. In political matters, however, Philip 
II. resisted the demands of the Pope with more or less 
success. In England Innocent compelled John to accept 
Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury, and then 
aided the king in his struggle against the barons. 

It seemed for awhile that the Papacy would get posses- 
sion of all the Christian east. Innocent III. forbade the The east 
fourth crusade to proceed against Constantinople, but 
when the city was taken and the Latin Church established 
there he accepted its work. From Constantinople, as a 
vantage-ground, he hoped to extend the papal authority 
over all the east, but the rapid disintegration of the Latin 
Empire was destined to blast his hopes. 

During his pontificate many heresies appeared in the 
west, the most widely spread of which was that of the Al- 
bigenses. Innocent and his successor were responsible for 
the crusade which was preached against them, and carried 
out by Simon de Montfort. In 12 15, at the Lateran Coun- 
cil, the inquisition was established, and it was declared 
that heresy was a crime which should be punished with 
death. At the same council the doctrines of transubstan- 
tiation and auricular confession were promulgated. The 



1 66 A Short History of Mcdiceval Europe 

twenty-first canon of that council declared that every Chris- 
tian must confess his sins to the priest at least once a year, 
and might receive the sacrament of the eucharist after do- 
ing so. If he did not confess, the church was to be closed 
to him, and if he should die, he should not receive Chris- 
tian burial. '' From that time forth the confessional began 
to be considered as the only means of obtaining forgive- 
ness for mortal sin, which the priest, as representative of 
God, actually granted, and he alone could grant." The 
doctrine of transubstantiation, which up to that time had 
not been the universal belief of the Church, was adopted, 
and it was decreed that no one except a properly ordained 
priest could administer the sacrament. Innocent had an- 
nounced that the council would deal with two questions, the 
recovery of the Holy Land and the reform of the Church. 
Many of the canons were really reformatory in their charac- 
ter, and the work of the council dealing with all sorts of 
questions shows the deep insight and sincerity of Innocent. 
A great crusade was announced for the year 1217, and im- 
mense preparations made for it, but Innocent did not live 
to see it. He died at Perugia while busily engaged in pre- 
paring for the crusade. 

On the surface his pontificate seems to have been a suc- 
The character cess. He had apparently won a victory in every case over 
chan^e^^^^^^ the temporal powers. But he had alienated the affections 
of the people. The cruelty of the crusade against the Al- 
bigenses turned the whole of southern France against him. 
His victory over John of England, and the support he gave 
him in his unjust struggle against his people, filled the Eng- 
lish with hatred of hiiii. In Germany the same results 
were reached. The troubadours charged their songs with 
fearful arraignments, and Walther von der Vogelweide 
lashed the Papacy for its worldliness, its greed of money, 
and its ambitions. Innocent gave the fullest expression to 



TJic Papacy and the Empire \6y 

the political claims of the Papacy, and did much to realize 
them. Under his guidance some of the most important 
doctrines, rites, and practices of the Church were estab- 
lished. The formation of the code of canon law, while not 
begun by him, was thoroughly in accordance with his 
ideas, and it gave a legal form and basis to what he had 
claimed. It would not be too much to say that he was the 
last great maker of the Papacy. His programme was car- 
ried through with the appearance of remarkable success, but 
his best weapon, the interdict, was almost worn out by its 
too frequent use. The forces were at work which were 
soon to undo all that he had done. The Papacy lost in 
spiritual power under him because he made politics the 
principal matter. Earnest Christian pilgrims and visitors 
at Rome were shocked to hear nothing about spiritual mat- 
ters, but to find the mouths of all the clergy incessantly 
filled with talk about temporal affairs. Innocent III. put 
the Church squarely on the road which led to its religious 
bankruptcy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 

The greatest of the Popes was followed by the greatest of 
the Emperors. In 1 2 1 2 Frederick had set bravely out to 
take Germany from Otto IV. He renewed the alliance with 
Philip of France, and the German princes of the Rhine 
valley received him with favor. Otto IV. called on his 
allies for help. John of England sent an army to the con- 
tinent to unite with the count of Flanders, the duke of 
Brabant, and other nobles in the north of France against 
the French king. The decisive battle was fought near 
Bouvines, in July, 12 14, and resulted in the complete vie- Bouvines, 
tory of Philip II. Since his allies were thus disposed of, 
Otto IV. was compelled to yield to Frederick. He with- 
drew to his lands, and died at Harzburg (12 18). 

Frederick was crowned at Aachen in 12 15, proclaimed a 
universal peace in Germany, and took a vow to go on the 



1 2 14. 



1 68 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Frederick II, 
and the 
Papacy. 



Three times 
excommuni- 
cated. 



crusade which Innocent III. was planning. His next step 
was to secure the imperial crown. But Innocent was afraid 
of his growing power, although Frederick had been most 
respectful to him in all things. He feared that if Freder- 
ick should hold both Germany and Sicily, the two would 
be joined together and Frederick would try to control all 
Italy. He therefore persuaded Frederick to promise that 
as soon as he should receive the imperial crown he would 
resign the crown of Sicily to his young son, Henry, who 
should hold it as a fief from the Pope. Death prevented 
Innocent from crowning Frederick, but Innocent's succes- 
sor, Honorius III., performed the act. Frederick, how- 
ever, in spite of his promises retained the title of king 
of Sicily, a breach of faith Honorius III. paid no attention 
to, because he was desirous that the crusade should be 
made, and he wished Frederick to join it. Frederick, 
however, always found excuses, and put off his departure. 
He married lolanthe, the daughter of the king of Jerusalem, 
and without any regard for the rights of her father assumed 
that title himself. Gregory IX. (1227-41) demanded his 
immediate departure for Palestine. Frederick finally sailed 
(1227) from Brindisi, but returned three days later, and 
excused himself on the ground that he was ill. Gregory 
would not listen to the excuse and put him under the ban. 
Frederick then made fresh preparations for the crusade, but 
the Pope forbade his going until he had obtained the re- 
moval of the ban. Frederick, however, sailed again from 
Brindisi, June, 1228. He saw that by force it would be 
impossible to conquer the east, yet by diplomacy he gained 
possession of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and other 
places for the Christians. He crowned himself in Jerusa- 
lem and returned home, having been three times excom- 
municated for his disobedience to the Pope. 

During his absence the Pope had tried to stir up the Ger- 



TJie Papacy and the Empire 169 

mans against him, and raising an army at his own expense 
had attacked his territories in the south, achieving some 
success. But when Frederick returned (1229), taken by- 
surprise, the Pope was unable to continue the war and of- 
fered to make peace. The two came together at San Ger- San Germano, 
mano (1230), and by mutual concessions peace was re- ^^^^' 
stored. 

Frederick then turned his attention to Sicily. In 1231 
he published the famous '' constitutions of the kingdom of 
Sicily," by which feudalism was destroyed there, and a 
real kingship established in its stead. Royal judges and A new 
courts took the place of the barons and their courts ; feudal iidiy""^^" 
dues were replaced by direct taxes, and other changes were 
made which resulted in the formation of a really modern 
state in all that concerns the machinery of government. 

During his long absence from Germany great disorder 
had arisen. He had caused his son Henry to be made king 
in Aachen (1222), and much power had been granted him. 
In 1233 Henry revolted against his father, but was seized 
and carried to Italy, where he died asa prisoner (1242). In a 
great diet at Mainz (1235) Frederick forbade private war- 
fare, proclaimed the peace of the land, and ended all the quar- 
rels between him and the Guelf family by making its last 
representative a duke and investing him with a large duchy, 
created especially for him. He was at the height of his 
power at this time. Germany and Sicily were wholly in 
his hands, but the cities of Lombardy were not willing to 
give him the obedience he desired. In 1236-37 he car- 
ried on war against them and succeeded in reducing the 
leader, Milan, after the great battle of Cortenuova (1237). 

In 1238 Frederick laid claim to Sardinia as a part of the 
Empire. This brought on a struggle between him and the The struggle 
Pope, because Sardinia had been declared to be a fief of the Papacy^ 
Church. Frederick persisted in his course, and the Pope, renewed. 



I/O A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

from this time on, was implacable in his hatred toward 
Frederick. The final struggle had begun. Gregory IX. 
and his successors tried to turn the German princes and 
people against him, and freed them from their oath of al- 
legiance. The cities of Italy were arrayed against him, and 
help was sought from France. At the same time Frederick 
was charged with all kinds of heresy. He was reported to 
have said that there had been three great impostors who had 
deceived the world — Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed ; he had 
reviled the clergy and the creed of the Church ; he had 
said that nothing is to be believed which is not acceptable 
to the reason. Heresy was proved by the fact that he as- 
sociated with both Jews and Mohammedans, and allowed 
the free exercise of all religions in his kingdom. The Em- 
peror defended himself with great vigor. He had recourse 
to the Apocalypse of St. John for his figures of speech, 
and called the Pope the anti-Christ, the angel that came up 
from the bottomless pit, and the rider on the red horse with 
power to destroy peace in the world. Gregory called a 
council, but Frederick captured the clergy who were on their 
way to attend it, and thus prevented its meeting. He over- 
ran Italy, and got possession of the territory even to the 
gates of Rome. After the death of Gregory IX. the Car- 
dinals were unable to elect a Pope, and for nearly two years 
the chair of St. Peter was vacant. Frederick tried in 
every way to compel them to elect his candidate, but they 
resisted him successfully. At last, in 1243, one of Fred- 
erick's friends was elected and took the title Innocent IV. 
(1243-54). Frederick, however, felt that the war must go 
on, because, as he said, no Pope could be a Ghibelline. 
Innocent escaped to France and called a council at Lyon, 
at which the Emperor was again deposed and put under the 
ban. All were forbidden to regard him as their king, or 
Emperor, and the princes of Germany were ordered to pro- 



The Papacy and the Empire 171 

ceed to the election of another king, Innocent saying that 
he himself would take care of Sicily. To this Frederick 
replied, asserting that he was a good Christian, and that he 
had been laboring all his life only to bring the clergy to 
live in the proper way and lead an apostolic life in poverty 
and humility. 

Innocent IV. appealed to France, to the cities of Italy, 
and to the Germans, and by the greatest exertions kept the 
war going. He turned it into a crusade, and offered to all A Crusade 
who would join in it the same indulgences and spiritual re- E^nperon^ 
wards as against the Saracens. In 1246 he succeeded in 
having count Henry Raspe of Thuringia elected king in 
place of Frederick. Civil war spread all over Germany. 
The Begging Friars supported the Pope by stirring up the 
people against Frederick, and by collecting large sums of 
money from all quarters to be used in carrying on the op- 
position. The Pope spent a great deal to persuade the elec- 
tors to make WiUiam of Holland king, and in 1247 he was 
actually elected. Frederick's son, Conrad IV., who, as king 
of the Germans, had charge of affairs in Germany, was un- 
able to resist the progress of William, who was crowned at 
Aachen in 1248. Misfortunes thickened around the aging 
Emperor. Among the courtiers of Frederick a conspiracy 
was formed, and an attempt was made to poison him. His 
son Enzio was taken prisoner and confined in Bologna. 
One by one his friends and supporters fell in battle. He 
himself was very ill, but he kept up his courage. His troops 
were victorious in Italy, and Rome was about to fall into Death of 
his hands. The struggle was far from being decided when 1250. * 

the Emperor died (December 13, 1250). 

Frederick II. was of the Middle Age, and belonged at 
the same time to the Modern Period — a man full of con- 
trasts, not to say contradictions. He was most modern in 
that he was not controlled by religious, but wholly by po- 



1/2 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



His character, litical, motives. He was not bound by feudal ideas, but act- 
ually created an absolute monarchy in Sicily. His king- 
dom there is regarded as the first modern state in Europe. 
He persecuted heretics in Germany, but was himself very 
free in thought, tolerating all religions in his kingdom of 
Sicily. He was not a German in character, but exhibited 
the fusion of the German, Italian, Greek, and Saracen ele- 
ments in southern Italy. He spoke Latin, Italian, French, 
German, Greek, and Arabic. He surpassed all the Em- 
perors who had preceded him in culture and learning, was 
himself a poet, and kept himself surrounded by poets and 
scholars. He established the University of Naples (1224). 
He had zoological gardens, not for the gratification of his 
curiosity alone, but also for scientific purposes. He be- 
longed to the class of independent thinkers, of which Abe- 
lard was also a member. He preferred to live in Sicily, 
because it possessed far more culture than Germany. He 
understood the question at issue between himself and the 
Pope ; he knew that it was for the right to rule the Empire 
independently that he was fighting. In the art of diplo- 
macy he was well trained, and by it he won many victories. 
He died before the struggle was ended, but he seems to have 
felt that it would be decided against him and his family. 
His last years were made heavy by many misfortunes, but 
he died with unbroken spirit. 

With the death of Frederick II. the power of the Hohen- 
staufen family was broken, but the fight was not given up. 
The Pope caused William of Holland to be elected king. 
Conrad IV., son of Frederick 11. , was unable to maintain 
himself in Germany and so withdrew to Sicily, which his 
half-brother, Manfred, had succeeded in holding for him. 
Conrad IV. offered to make terms with the Pope, but all 
his advances were rejected. Innocent IV. was implacable. 
He had sworn that the hated race of the Staufen should be 



Conrad IV. , 
1250-54, and 
William of 
Holland. 



The Papacy and the Empire 173 

literally destroyed. Conrad and Manfred were, however, 
successful in arms, and in spite of all opposition had 
got control of southern Italy and Sicily, when Conrad 
IV. died suddenly (1254), leaving his httle son, whom the 
Italians call Conradino, to the care of his faithful Manfred. 
After continuing the struggle for four years, Manfred was 
compelled to accept the crown himself (1258), but he 
stipulated that Conradino should succeed him. 

The Pope now turned to France for help. He offered 
the crown of Sicily to Charles of Anjou, the brother of Charles of 
king Louis IX. This Charles was bold, ambitious, utterly ^^°^' 
unscrupulous and cruel. In 1263 the kingdom of Sicily 
was made over to him, and he began his preparations to 
take possession of it. Manfred tried to besiege Rome and 
to keep Charles from landing in Italy. He was unsuccess- 
ful, however, and Charles entered Rome and was crowned 
king, January 6, 1266. About a month later the decisive 
battle was fought near Benevento, and when Manfred saw 
that he was betrayed by many of his troops, who, no doubt, 
had been bribed by the Pope to desert to Charles during 
the battle, he rushed into the thick of the fight and was Death of Man- 

1 . fred, 1266. 

slain. ' 

Conradino, who had spent all his life in Germany, was 
a genuine Hohenstaufen. Although a mere lad, he gal- 
lantly responded to the call of the Ghibellines of Italy, 
and with a small army went to meet Charles of Anjou. 
After a hard-fought battle, Charles was victorious. Conra- 
dino was taken prisoner and beheaded as a rebel in the 
public square of Naples. 

The long battle was over, and the victory was the Pope's. The victory of 
Not only was the power of the Hohenstaufen broken, the 
family itself had been destroyed. There remained only 
one member of it, Enzio, the son of Frederick II., and he 
was a prisoner in Bologna, where he died, in 1272. The 



1 74 A SJiort History of Mediceval Europe 



The great 
interregnum. 



Feudal 
principalities 
of Germany. 



great Staufen family was no more. With it had disap- 
peared the Empire of Karl the Great. Not that it was de- 
stroyed, but it now miderwent a radical change. The 
government of the world was no longer the peculiar prerog- 
ative of the Emperor, but of the Pope. The Pope had 
vindicated his right to the temporal as well as to the spirit- 
ual supremacy, and it was now possible for him to declare 
with truth that he was both Pope and Emperor. 

When Conrad IV. left Germany in 1251, William of 
Holland remained in full possession. The Pope did all he 
could to insure William's recognition throughout Germany, 
but for some time in vain. The cities in the Rhine valley 
renewed the old league (1254), and within a year there 
were more than sixty cities bound together for mutual pro- 
tection. Eventually they recognized William, as did nearly 
all of northern Germany. But becoming engaged in a quar- 
rel with the Friesians, he was killed by some Friesian peas- 
ants (January, 1256). Although both Richard of Cornwall 
and Alphonso of Castile, were afterward elected king, 
neither of them was able to establish himself as master of 
the country. Alphonso, indeed, never came to Germany. 
Richard visited the country, but never exercised any au- 
thority there. The period from 1254 to 1273 is known as 
the great interregnum. 

During this struggle of the Staufer with the Papacy, two 
things are to be noticed : the largely increased number of 
principahties and the extension of the frontier on the east. 
Through the policy of the Hohenstaufen to diminish the 
power of the dukes by breaking their original provinces up 
into many smaller pohtical divisions and giving these as 
fiefs to others, there had now come to be, instead of the 
five great stem-duchies, a large number of duchies, counties, 
marches, bishoprics, and other principalities, all striving 
for independence. The influence of subinfeudation may 



TJie Papacy and the Empire 



75 



jreat political cen- 



also be seen in this dissolution of the 
tres. 

A most important change had taken place in the eastern The eastern 
boundary. Slowly the Slavs, Letts, and Magyars, who '°"^'^'"- 
covered the whole eastern frontier, had been conquered 
and were being Christianized and Germanized. The east- 
ern boundary had been carried even beyond the Vistula on 
the Baltic, and included the valley of the Oder ; from there 
it extended in an irregular line to the Danube below Vi- 
enna. Germany had lost Italy forever, but had indemni- 
fied herself in a measure by the conquest and assimilation 
of these barbarian lands. 

Great progress had been made in Germany in culture 
and wealth. Numerous cities were in existence, and they Cities. 
were now ready to make use of the freedom afforded them 
by the absence of a strong ruler, to establish among them- 
selves their powerful independent leagues. 

The struggle between Pope and Emperor resulted in the 
political dismemberment of both Germany and Italy. 
While the feudal lords of Germany had got power there, 
the cities of Italy were growing in independence, and the 
French had got a good foothold in the southern part of the 
peninsula. The Papacy still held its lands in the central 
part, but as a spiritual institution the Papacy had begun to 
lose ground. It was losing the religious character it had 
had in the days of Gregory the Great, and was now re- 
garded more as a great political power. It had placed 
temporal power above its religious interests, and therefore 
its victory over the Empire was the beginning of its fall. 



Results of the 
struggle. 



CHAPTER XIII 



MONASTICISM 



The phil- 
osophic basis 
of asceticism. 



Conditions 
favorable to 
the introduc- 
tion of asceti- 
cism into the 
Church. 



The philosophic basis of asceticism is the belief that 
matter is the seat of evil, and that therefore all contact with 
it is contaminating. This conception of evil is neither 
Christian nor Jewish, but purely heathen. Jesus used the 
good things of this world, teaching that sin is in nothing 
that is external to man, and has its seat only in the heart ; 
but his ideas were not understood by his followers. 

Tlie decay of the Empire, which set in strongly in the 
second century, and the violence consequent upon the in- 
vasions of the Barbarians, robbed many persons of inter- 
est in life. The world seemed to be growing old, and 
the end of all things approaching. The best men were 
filled with despair, and longed to hide themselves away 
from the increasing confusion and desolation. 

After about 175 a.d. the Church rapidly grew world- 
ly. As Christianity became popular, large numbers en- 
tered the Church and became Christian in name ; but at 
heart and in life they remained heathen. The bishops 
were often proud and haughty and lived in great style. 
Those who were really in earnest about their salvation, un- 
satisfied with such worldliness, fled from the contamination 
in the Church, and went out to live in the desert, and find 
the way to God without the aid of the Church and her 
means of grace ; these were for the common Christians. 
Those who would, could obtain by means of asceticism 
and prayer all that others received by means of the Church's 

176 



Monasticism 



177 



sacraments. There were to be two ways of salvation : one, Two ways of 
through the Church and her means of grace ; the other, ^^^^^^'^"• 
through asceticism and contemplation. 

The beginnings of monasticism are lost in obscurity. 
They fall very probably in the third century. The earliest 
monks were hermits. They lived alone and found all the Hermits, 
shelter they needed in a hut or a cave or in the shadow of 
some rock or tree. The movement began in those coun- 
tries where the conditions were favorable to such an out- 
door life, and spread rapidly throughout the east. In 
order to protect themselves against impostors and other 
dangers, the hermits began to build their little huts close Semi-social 
together, and probably surrounded them by a wall for pro- Organization, 
tection. They had a common chapel, and on certain days 
worshipped together and partook of a common meal. 
Though they had few rules, they elected a sort of superior 
who had the oversight of the whole colony. Gradually 
they came to live in houses, in which each monk had his 
own room or cell, and so maintained a certain kind of in- 
dependence. In this way the ascetic life was organized on 
a semi-social basis. By going into the desert, the hermit, 
of course, had given up his possessions and his family, and 
it soon came to be regarded as a matter of course that he 
had taken the vows of poverty and chastity. When they Three vows. 
began to live under one roof another vow was necessary — 
that of obedience, subjecting themselves to the rules and 
interests of the house. 

More and more this loosely organized cenobitic life be- 
came the common form, retaining, although the monks now 
lived together, the name of monasticism. It is this form 
of monasticism that has prevailed in the Greek Church, Monasticism 
although hermits still exist there and are regarded as lead- chun;h. 
ing a more holy form of life. The monks of the Greek 
Church have really lived for the most part separated from 



178 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Monasticism 
carried to the 
vvest. 



Benedict of 

Nursia, 

480-543- 



the world. Occasionally they have made themselves felt at 
the court, and they played a part in the great synods which 
were held from the fourth to the eighth centuries. Since 
that time monasticism in the Greek Church has had no 
history, because it has had no life. The monasticism of 
the Greek Church has helped preserve the dead forms in 
the Church, and prevented any change except in the direc- 
tion of enriching the ceremonies and forms of worship. 

Monks were first seen in the west about 340, when Atha- 
nasius brought two of them with him to Rome. They ex- 
cited among the Romans feelings of mingled curiosity and 
disgust. But Augustine and Jerome gave the influence of 
their pens and their example in favor of monasticism, and 
it rapidly spread throughout Europe. The movement be- 
came immensely popular, and within a hundred and fifty 
years there were hundreds of monasteries in the west, and 
thousands of monks in them. It seemed for a time that 
this monasticism in the west would be of the same charac- 
ter as that in the east, and therefore would have no history 
and play no part in the work of the Church. But the 
spirit of the west took hold of it, organized it, and made 
of it one of the most effective tools in the hands of the 
Pope and Emperor to Christianize and civilize the Barba- 
rians and extend the Church and the state. The Roman 
spirit of organization, of conquest and activity, would not 
allow the original monkish ideal to prevail. The monks 
had, indeed, fled from the world, but they were to be used 
to conquer and rule it. 

At first each monastery made its own rules of discipline; 
each monk was allowed to do about as he pleased. There 
were several attempts made to harmonize these rules and 
make one code for all. Of all these attempts only that of 
Benedict of Nursia (480-543) was destined to succeed. 
Benedict, after spending several years as a monk in various 



Monasttcism 179 



places, went to Monte Casino, near Naples (528), taking 
with him several of those who had been with him else- 
where. There he founded the famous monastery of Monte 
Casino, for which he prepared his Rule. He organized the 
monks into a close corporation, and forbade any of them to 
leave the monastery without the consent of the abbot. A 
clear line was sharply drawn between them and the world. 
The occupations of the monks were fixed by him for every 
hour of the day and night. Periods of prayer and contem- 
plation were to alternate with seasons of work. Strict dis- 
ciphne was to be enforced, and all monks must take the 
vows of povert}% chastity, and obedience.^ 

Circumstances favored the spread of Benedict's rule, and 
gradually it was adopted by other monasteries. Gregory 
the Great (590-604) established it in many places in Italy, 
Sicily, and England. In the seventh centurj- it was much 
more widely used,, and in the eighth, under Boniface, it 
was made the only form of monasticism in Gaul and Ger- 
many. In the next century, Benedict of Aniane helped 
give it a severer character. It became the orthodox rule 
of monasticism and at one time governed more than forty 
thousand monastic establishments. It was not Benedict's 
intention to make his monks either scholars or missionaries. 
The Bishops of Rome, however, used them in misionaiy 
work, and that soon came to be r^arded as one of the 
peculiar purposes of their existence. It was principally 
through them that Christianity spread among the Barba- 
rians. Cassiodorus, the prime minister of Theodoric the Cassiodorus 
Great, remained in public hfe till about 540, when he re- ^the ** 
tired to a monastery which he had founded in Calabria- 
There he gave himself up to literary pursuits, and required 
his monks to spend a certain portion of time every day in 

» Henderson, Historical Documents of the Middle Ages, p. 274 ff! , con- 
tains a translation of this mle. 



i8o A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

study. This example was imitated in other monasteries, 
and since it soon became apparent that a good deal of 
learning was necessary to manage the monastery's affairs, 
some of the monks in each monastery became scholars. In 
this way learning found a home in monasteries. 

The rule of St. Benedict, which required that every 
monk should work, and the impulse which Cassiodorus 
gave them toward learning, prevented the monks of the 
west from becoming ignorant and useless, as were the 
monks of the east. They were not permitted to withdraw 
from the world entirely, but were made useful members of 
society. The monks were excellent tools in the hands of 
the Popes, for whose purpose of conquering the world no 
better man could be found than one who despised the world 
and had turned his back upon it. The Papacy also drew 
them away from their original ideal and gave them a still 
greater field of activity. 

The monks were not necessarily clergymen. At first 
they were all laymen, but later it came to be the custom 
for them to receive ordination. The monastic life was re- 
Monks, regu- garded as the ideal Christian life. So prevalent was this 
secular^derS? ^^ea that wherever possible the clergy of a diocese were 
gathered together and compelled to live in a common house 
according to a common rule. From this fact all such came 
to be called the '' regular clergy," while the clergy of the 
outlying districts and villages who did not live in this way 
were called the ' ' secular clergy. ' ' 

In the tenth century the rule of St. Benedict was so 
little regarded, and the life in the monasteries had so de- 
generated, that it almost seemed that monasticism must die 
out. Its first great reform began in the monastery of 
Clugny. Clugny, which was founded (910) in the hills a few miles 

west of Macon. Under the headship of a series of most 
capable and earnest abbots, Clugny achieved a wide repu- 



Monasticism 



tation for piety. With its growing fame the number of its 
monks increased until it was possible to send out colonies 
of monks to establish new monasteries. As the spirit of 
reform awoke elsewhere, monks from Clugny were asked to 
come and introduce the new rule and ideas into other 
monasteries. In this way the rule became common in Eu- 
rope during the tenth and eleventh centuries. All the 
monasteries which used it w^ere bound together by it, and 
were called a '' congregation." The abbot of Clugny was The ciuniac 
at the head of this congregation, and, therefore, possessed 
immense power. The objects which this reform had in 
view were those w^hich were taken up by Gregory VII. 
and by him made the programme of the Papacy. The 
monastic rule must be made more rigorous and be more 
vigorously enforced. The secular clergy must be made to 
live after this monkish rule, and the spiritual aristocracy 
thus formed by the monks and clergy should have complete 
authority over the laity in all religious matters. Gregory 
VII., indeed, went a step farther ; to the spiritual authority 
over the whole world he added also the political authority. 

There was a great deepening of the monastic spirit in 
the eleventh century, so that even the rule of Clugny 
seemed to some to be too lax. This led to the formation 
of many orders, such as the Carthusians (1084), the Cis- 
tercians (1098), the Premonstrants (11 20), and the Car- 
melites (1156), and others which achieved for the most 
part only a local reputation. The tendency to form sepa- 
rate orders, and the number of those who applied to the 
Pope for permission to establish new ones increased ; and 
though Innocent III. finally refused to listen to any more 
appeals, and forbade the establishment of any more orders, 
the prohibition was immediately disregarded. 

St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the order which St. Francis. 
bears his name (Franciscans, frates minores, friars, Minor- 



82 A Short Hist 07' y of McdicBval Europe 



182 



The rule of 
poverty- 
evaded. 



St. Dominic. 



Faults of 
monasticism. 



ites), was filled with the idea of the imitation of Christ 
and His apostles in their preaching, poverty, and service of 
others. "The brother " should spend his life on the high- 
way, stopping to preach and minister unto others whenever 
occasion offered ; for his bread he should work, if work 
could be found; if not, he might beg; he should never 
receive money under any circumstances, nor more food 
than was sufficient for his wants for the day ; he must never 
lay up any store in this world ; he must care for the sick, 
visit those who were in priso«, cheer the downcast, recover 
the lost, and be to the world a Christ. The life of Jesus 
was to be his model in all respects. During the period 
from 1209 to 1226 the order of St. Francis was thoroughly 
established and his rule developed and confirmed by the 
Pope. The order, however, soon underwent a change 
which deeply offended St. Francis — it began to amass 
property and build houses. 

St. Dominic, a Spaniard (11 70-1 2 21), established the 
order of Preaching Brothers (Fratres Praedicatores, 12 15) 
to resist the spread of heresy in the Church. They were to 
be trained in all the learning of the day and made equal to 
the task of instructing the people in the doctrines of the 
Church. In 1220 he introduced the rule of poverty into 
the order, thus modelling it after the order of St. Francis. 
The two orders had much the same development, becoming 
large, rich, and powerful. St. Francis had not intended 
that his brothers should devote themselves to learning, but 
they took it up in imitation of the Dominicans, and the 
two orders furnished all the great scholars of the later Mid- 
dle Age. 

The dark side of Monasticism has been often enough 
painted. There were many periods of decadence in its 
history. The piety of the monks brought them popular- 
ity and wealth ; wealth brought them leisure, idleness, and 



Monasticisrn 183 



profligacy. The principles of monasticism were opposed 
to the dignity of the family, and to the proper position of 
woman in society. The best human talent was frequently 
drawn into the monastery and hence lost to the state. 

Much more might, indeed, be said against the institu- 
tion, but the good which it did far outweighs the evil. The benefits of 
Monasticism furnished the missionaries who Cliristianized 
western and northern Europe. The monks were also the 
civilizers. Every monastery founded by them became a 
centre of life and learning, and hence a light to the sur- 
rounding country. They cleared the lands and brought 
them under cultivation. They were the farmers and taught 
by their example the dignity of labor in an age when the 
soldier was the world's hero. They preserved and trans- 
mitted much of the civilization of Rome to the Barbarians. 
They were the teachers of the west. Literature and learn- 
ing found a refuge with them in times of violence. Their 
monasteries were the hotels of the ^liddle Age and they 
cared for the poor and the sick. They were the greatest 
builders of the Middle Age, many of the great churches of 
Europe being their work, Monasticism was an excellent 
thing for the world in those days. It was fitted to do a 
great work. But the times changed. In the fifteenth and six- 
teenth centuries it no longer had a mission. Other forces 
and institutions were then at hand to carry on the work 
which it had begun. The proof of this is that in the fifteenth 
century it was dying out. The monasteries were no longer 
full, and it was impossible to keep their numbers complete. 
The old monasticism was powerless ; it was no longer adapt- 
ed to the character and needs of society. 

The Middle Age had two distinct ideals, the soldier and Military- 

, -1^1. 1 • ■ . monkish 

the monk. Contradictory as they may seem, it is not Orders, 
strange that they fused and produced military-monkish 
orders, which arose under the peculiar circumstances which 



1 84 A S/iort History of Mcdiivval Europe 

The Knights prevailed in Palestine during the cnisades. The Knights 
of bt John. ^j- g^ ^o\vn were organized (1099) for the care of the 
sick among the pilgrims and crusaders. It was not long, 
however, until the mihtary element was added, because be- 
ing surrounded by Saracens and constantly threatened they 
Knights Tern- had to defend themselves. In 11 19 the Knights Templars 
^ '^'^^* were established in imitation of the Knights of St. John. 

Both orders were composed of men who took all the vows 
of monks, but spent their time fighting. Because of their 
connection with the Holy Land, the two orders became 
very popular throughout the west and received immense 
gifts. 

In 1 190, during the siege of Ptolemais, a hospital was 
established for Germans, the members of which were soon 
The German afterward organized into a military -monkish order in imi- 
bIiuc °° '^^ tation of the two spoken of above. They were called Ger- 
man Knights. They tried hard to get a foothold in the 
east, but the other orders were so much older and had been 
so much longer in the field that it was impossible. In 1226 
they were invited to come to Prussia (the territory east of 
the lower Vistula) to fight against the heathen Prussians. 
In 1202 Albert, bishop of Riga, had established a similar 
order known as the Sword Brothers, and had made use of 
them in conquering and Christianizing the heathen of 
Livonia and Esthonia. In 1237 these two orders were 
united, and to this union it was due that so large a territory 
east of the Vistula was Germanized and Christianized, and 
added finally to Germany. 



CHAPTER XIV 

MOHAMMED, MOHAMMEDANISM, AND THE CRUSADES 

Before the time of Mohammed the Arabs had no cen- Political cen- 
tral government. They were separated into tribes, each in- Arabia, 
dependent of the others. In the tribe there was a kind of 
patriarchal government, but no recognized officials entrust- 
ed with the enforcement of the laws and the execution of 
justice. Even in the towns there was no real government. 
Everyone claimed the right of private vengeance. Each 
family defended itself and its interests, and was bound to 
avenge any injury done to its members ; consequently there 
were constant feuds among them. Until united by Mo- 
hammed, the Arabs can hardly be said to have had a politi- 
cal existence. 

The religion of the Arabs was a crass idolatry. The wor- 
ship of the heavenly bodies was practised, as well as that of 
a large number of spirits known as genii, ogres, and demons, 
all of which play a prominent part in their literature. They 
observed a holy month, in which all warfare was suspended 
and no one dared do even his worst enemy an injury. 
Markets were held during the holy season and at the holy 
places, and under this double security commerce flourished. 
About the middle of the fifth century of our era the city of 
Mecca was founded at a place where from time immemorial Mecca, 
there had been a temple, known as the Kaaba. The tribe 
known as the Koreischites had got possession of the temple, 
and by collecting there all the religious rites of Arabia, 
made of Mecca its religious and commercial capital. Chris- 

i8s 



1 86 A Short History of MedicBval Europe 



Mohammed, 
570-632. 



His first 
converts. 



tianity, although of a poor type, was known in Arabia; 
Judaism also was represented there by many Jewish colo- 
nies, especially along the western coast. 

Of Mohammed's early life very little is known. He was 
born in Mecca about 570. The death of his father, mother, 
and grandfather left him to the care of his uncle. His fam- 
ily was poor, however, and Mohammed was compelled to 
perform the most menial labor. When about twenty-five 
years old he entered the service of a rich widow, whom he 
served so faithfully as to win her hand and heart. His mar- 
riage with her raised him from his humble position of pov- 
erty to one of influence. When about forty years old 
Mohammed began to preach against polytheism and idol- 
atry. The burden of all his messages to his people was that 
there was one God, who required of his followers certain 
religious and humane duties, and who would in the next 
world reward or punish all men in accordance with their 
conduct in this. The Meccans generally did not take 
him seriously at first, but in the course of a few years he had 
gathered about him a goodly number of people who believed 
in him and his divine calling. His wife and children, his 
slaves, a few of his relatives, and several poor and humble 
people, especially slaves, accepted him as a prophet and at- 
tached themselves to him. During the first five years of 
his preaching he had also won over the four men who were 
to succeed him as Khalifs, Abu Bekr, Omar, Othman, and 
Ali. As his following grew in numbers the Meccans began 
to oppose him bitterly, because he was attacking their idols 
and might thereby injure the reputation of the city, and also 
because he was establishing a society on a new basis. The 
union between him and his followers was not based on blood 
relationship, but on a common religious belief, which 
seemed to the Meccans dangerous and revolutionary, and 
their opposition developed into persecution. 



MohaitunedanisiJi and the Crusades 187 

At first Mohammed sent some of his followers into Abys- 
sinia, where he hoped they would be free from all inter- 
ference. As the hostility of the Meccans toward him be- 
came greater, however, he saw that he must eventually leave 
the city. He accordingly tried to make an alliance with 
some tribe to whom he might retire when he withdrew from 
Mecca. After meeting with several refusals, he fell in with 
some men from Jathrib, or as it came to be called later, 
Medina, who were inclined to believe in his prophetic char- 
acter. The Arabs of Medina lived among Jews, from whom 
they had learned of many of the ideas which Mohammed 
was proclaiming. After Mohammed had labored two years 
with them, the people of Medina made an alliance with Alliance with 
him, accepting his religion and agreeing to protect him. ^^^'"^• 
Mohammed then sent as many of his followers to Medina 
as could free themselves from their entanglements in Mecca, 
and he himself, with Abu Bekr, soon followed.' This flight 
of Mohammed, called the Hegira, took place in the year The Hegira, 
622, and became the basis for the Mohammedan system of ^^^' 
reckoning time. 

During the first year after the flight Mohammed tried 
hard to win the Jews of Medina and the surrounding coun- 
try, believing that since they were monotheists there could 
be but little difference between them and himself. Under 
Jewish influence he developed certain religious ceremonies, 
such as fasting and prayer. All the references in the Koran 
to the Jews during this period are friendly ; but before the 
first year was passed, Mohammed discovered that the Jews 
could not be won by him. This led him to turn from them 
and exert himself in the conversion of the Arabs. Up to Mohammed 
this time Jerusalem had been regarded by him as the Holy jews^toThe* ^ 
City. During prayer he and his followers had turned their Arabs. 
faces toward it. Now he determined to win the Arabs, and 
his first step was to make Mecca which, although the great 



1 88 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



The desire of 
revenge leads 
Mohammed to 
resort to arms. 



The change 
wrought in 
him by mih- 
tary success. 



national centre of the Arabs, had played an unimportant 
role in his belief, the Holy City of his reHgion. Mecca and 
the Kaaba replaced Jerusalem and the temple. To justify 
this change Mohammed made use of the tradition of Abra- 
ham and Ishmael, connecting them with the building of 
the Kaaba and making Abraham the father of the Arabs. 
Abraham had been made to do duty by both Jews and 
Christians, both having laid claim to him ; Mohammed 
now declared that Abraham had been neither Jew nor 
Christian, but Mohammedan. 

But Mecca was not in the hands of Mohammed, and the 
Meccans were hostile to him. For the purpose of revenge, 
as well as of getting possession of the Kaaba, Mohammed be- 
gan to instil into the minds of his followers the idea that 
war against those who had done violence to the faithful was 
justifiable. In a short time, in order to precipitate a war, 
he sent out some of his men to attack and rob a caravan of 
the Meccans. Inflamed by the hope of booty, the people 
of Medina now joined him in an attempt to capture another 
caravan on its way to Mecca ; but its leader outwitted them. 
About one thousand men had come out from Mecca to de- 
fend the caravan and to avenge themselves for the previous 
loss which they had sustained. Mohammed, with only 
about three hundred men, met the thousand Meccans at 
Badr, and after killing about seventy of them, put the rest 
to flight. Much booty was taken, which Mohammed ju- 
diciously distributed among those who had fought for him. 
This military success of Mohammed quite turned him from 
the propagation of his faith in a peaceable way to the use of 
the sword. It soon became his settled policy to compel the 
Arabians to accept him and his religion. During the rest 
of his life he suffered but few reverses ; before his death all 
Arabia acknowledged him, and his followers were prepared 
to carry his faith by force into all lands. 



Mohammedanism and the Crusades 189 

Mohammed's life may be divided into two periods. Dur- 
ing the first one he was a preacher of righteousness, a re 
former. Those parts of the Koran delivered during this 
period are religious and poetical. He felt religious truth so 
directly that he believed that God was speaking to him. It 
is difficult to believe that during this period Mohammed was 
an impostor, or that he consciously used fraud. But after Mohammed 
the flight he was moved by considerations that were not poster."^' 
wholly religious. It was his desire for revenge that led him ^^ ^''^t a 
to attack Mecca. He felt that he was establishing a new becomes a 
religion and a new state. As his interests became political, 
he lost sight of the purer objects of his religion, resorting to 
means which seem to us very questionable, though he prob- 
ably thought that the purpose he had in view justified him 
in all he did. During the last years of his life he was lack- 
ing in inspiration. He was dull and prolix, and the later 
chapters of the Koran are by no means equal to the earlier 
ones. 

While Mohammed had many of the faults of his age, he 
was in many respects also far ahead of it. He practised 
and permitted polygamy, and may seem to have degraded 
woman ; but it must be remembered that polygamy was 
practised among his people long before his time, and he 
did much in other ways to raise woman to a higher plane. 
A proper estimate of his character can be formed only after 
a careful study of his times and a knowledge of him in all 
the relations of his life. Many of his most serious faults 
were due either to his conception of the prophetic office, 
or to the character of his times or people. His character His character. 
was full of contrasts. Noeldeke compares him in this re- 
spect with King David, in whom we find the greatest vin- 
dictiveness, cruelty, and deceit joined with the most no- 
ble qualities. Mohammed was simple and modest, even in 
the days of his greatest success living in the most simple 



1 90 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



His quicken- 
ing influence 
on the Arabs. 



Modern 
Mohamme- 
danism is 
Turkish. 



fashion, mending his own clothes, and attending to his own 
wants. He needed no slaves, and consequently liberated most 
of the captives who fell to him in the distribution of spoil. 
He was never a tyrant to his people. He was mild, gentle, 
forgiving, and conciliatory. He associated freely with 
men of every rank. He was free from luxury in food, dress, 
and surroundings. He was true in all his friendships and 
deeply grateful for any kindness shown him. In common 
with his age, he was superstitious and belived in the influ- 
ence of good and evil spirits, and the importance of dreams 
and all kinds of omens. 

Mohammed made the Arabs into a nation and brought 
them into history. His influence on them intellectually 
may be seen from the fact that for nearly three hundred 
years the Arabs led the world in civilization. The good 
parts of his work were later destroyed by the ignorant and 
fanatical peoples from central Asia, who came down and 
acquired the political power over the Mohammedan world. 
Under their influence all the evils of Mohammed's religion 
were developed and its good destroyed. Mohammed him- 
self is not responsible for the Mohammedanism of to-day, 
which is the creation of the Turkish peoples who adopted 
his religion and ruled it for nearly eight hundred years. 
Turkish Mohammedanism is a very different thing from the 
early Arabic Mohammedanism. 

Mohammed was a religious genius. It may be objected 
that he produced nothing new and that he was indebted to 
the Jews and Christians for nearly all his ideas. While that 
is true, he nevertheless felt, as no one else had for several 
centuries, the power of these ideas. He saw and felt a great 
religious truth in a direct way. His originality consisted 
not so much in new knowledge as in the vigor, directness, 
and certainty of his religious perceptions. Others might 
have learned the same things from the Jews and Christians, 



Mohammedanism and the Crusades 191 

but Mohammed alone felt their truth and breathed into 
them a new religious power. 

Mohammed died in 632, and in turn four of his earliest 
converts, Abu Bekr (632-34), Omar (634-44), Othman 
(644-55), ^^^^ ^1^ (^55~6i), were elected Khalif. Before 
the death of Ali, Syria, Persia, the Euphrates valley, and 
all the territory as far as the Oxus river and the confines of 
India, and Egypt, with a part of north Africa, were con- 
quered and converted to the faith of Mohammed. But dis- 
sensions arose, and Othman and Ali were both murdered. 
A relative of Othman's made himself Khalif and established 
himself in Damascus (661) instead of in Medina. He and 
his family are known as the Ommeiades, and they ruled in 
Damascus till, in 750, the Abbassides, the descendants of 
an uncle of Mohammed, usurped the Khali fate and removed 
its seat to Bagdad. This change of capital was a mistake, 
because from that city it was impossible to rule the whole 
Mohammedan world. Egypt and Spain revolted and set 
up rival Khali fs. In the eleventh century the Seldjuk 
Turks came down from central Asia and made themselves 
master of all the Mohammedan parts of Asia. In 1058 their 
leader, Togrul Beg, went to Bagdad, received all the 
temporal authority of the Khalif, and became Sultan of 
the Mohammedan world. The Khalif became merely a 
religious officer ; the political authority rested in the 
hands of Togrul Beg and his successors. The changed 
Khalifate continued till 1258, when the son of the great 
conqueror, Ghengis Khan, put to death the last Khalif at 
Bagdad. 

In 750, when the Ommeiad dynasty was destroyed, one 
member of the family escaped and made his way to Spain, Spain. 
where he was received with honor and recognized as the 
lord of the country. With the name of Emir or Sultan, 
he and his descendants ruled in Spain till 929, when they 



192 A Short History of Mcdiceval Europe 



Africa. 



The Arabic 
civilization. 



assumed the title of Khalif. Under this family the Moham- 
medan power in Spain was well united and enjoyed a sea- 
son of great prosperity. In 1031, however, a revolution 
put an end to the Khalifate, breaking it into a large num- 
ber of small principalities, and the Christians, pressing in 
on all sides, reconquered some of their territory. 

After the fall of the Ommeiads Africa suffered a long 
period of violence and discord ; but in the tenth century a 
pretended descendant of Fatima, a daughter of Mohammed, 
got possession of it. His descendants founded Cairo (969) 
and made it the seat of their government. They controlled 
nearly all the islands of the western Mediterranean and held 
several posts in Italy and France. By constant wars, how- 
ever, their power was broken, and in 1171 Saladin, the ruler 
of western Asia, conquered Egypt and made an end of the 
Khali fate of Cairo. 

During the five centuries following Mohammed's death 
there was produced among his followers a civilization far 
in advance of anything in Europe. The basis for it all 
they received from Persia and Greece, but they added 
much to the stock thus obtained. In the administration of 
the government the Mohammedans had an excellent sys- 
tem, which was pretty thoroughly unified. Their system 
of taxation was good. They restored the old Roman roads 
and built new ones, binding all parts of the empire to- 
gether, and they constructed canals and aqueducts. A 
postal system was in operation among them. Cities sprang 
up in all parts of the empire, many of them numbering a 
half million or more inhabitants. They developed a beau- 
tiful style of architecture, which was characterized by the 
round and horse-shoe arch, the dome, the tall and graceful 
minaret, and the richness of its interior ornamentation. In 
everything connected with their buildings they showed the 
most exquisite taste and appreciation of beauty, and their 



Mohaminedanisin and the Crusades 193 

architectural remains are still the wonder and envy of the 
world. 

They established universities, which excelled all those of Learning. 
Europe for several centuries. The mosques were generally 
the seats of universities or learned societies, and were the 
places where all sorts of questions were freely discussed. 
The universities of Bagdad, Cairo, and Cordova were es- 
pecially famous, but there were also many others. The 
university of Cairo, which still exists in the mosque El- 
Azhar, had as many as twelve thousand students. Libraries 
were formed, some of which are said to have contained 
several hundred thousand volumes. The universities, espe- 
cially in Spain, were visited by many Christians, who thus 
carried the Mohammedan learning and culture into Chris- 
tian Europe. One of the most famous of these students 
was Gerbert, afterward Pope Sylvester II., who did much 
to introduce the science of mathematics into Europe. 
Philosophy, theology, law, rhetoric, and philology were 
studied with great zest. Dictionaries were compiled, and 
commentaries on the Koran written. The Mohammedans 
were acquainted with the works of Aristotle, and their 
philosophical systems were based on him. Several works 
by them on travel and history and some biographies are 
handed down to us. 

In mathematics they built on the work of the Greek iMathematics. 
mathematicians. The origin of the so-called Arabic nu- 
merals is obscure. Under Theoderic the Great, Boethius 
made use of certain signs which were in part very like the 
nine digits which we now use. One of the pupils of Ger- 
bert also used signs which were still more like ours, but the 
zero was unknown till in the twelfth century, when it was 
invented by an Arab mathematician named Mohammed- 
Ibn-Mousa, who also first used the decimal notation and 
gave the digits the value of position. In geometry the 



194 ^ SJwrt History of Mediceval Europe 

Arabs did not add much to Euclid, but Algebra is practi- 
cally their creation, and they developed spherical trigonom- 
etry also, inventing the sine, tangent, and cotangent. In 
physics they invented the pendulum, and produced works 
on optics and kindred subjects. They made progress in 
the science of astronomy. They built several observatories 
and constructed many astronomical instruments which are 
still in use. They calculated the angle of the ecliptic and 
the precession of the equinoxes. Their knowledge of the 
subject was undoubtedly profound. 
Medicine. In medicine they made great advances over the work of 

the Greeks in the same line. They studied physiology 
and hygiene, and their ^' materia medica " was practically 
the same as ours to-day. Many of their methods of treat- 
ment are still in use among us. Their surgeons performed 
some of the most difficult operations known. They knew 
the use of anaesthetics. At the time when in Europe the 
practice of medicine was forbidden by the Church, and 
cures were expected to be effected by religious rites per- 
formed by the clergy, the Arabs had a real science of medi- 
cine. In chemistry they made a good beginning. They 
discovered many new substances and compounds, such as 
alcohol, potassium, nitrate of silver, corrosive sublimate, 
and nitric and sulphuric acid. 

There was great literary activity among them, and they 
produced many works of the imagination. They had a 
special fondness for poetry. In manufactures they outdid 
the world in variety and beauty of design and perfection of 
workmanship. They worked in all the metals — gold, sil- 
ver, copper, bronze, iron, and steel. In textile fabrics they 
have never been surpassed. They made glass and pottery 
of the finest quality. They knew the secrets of dyeing and 
they manufactured paper. They had many processes of 
dressing leather, and their work was famous throughout 



Mohammedanism and the Crnsades 195 

Europe. They made tinctures, essences, and syrups. 
They made sugar from the cane and grew many fine kinds 
of wine. They practised farming in a scientific way. 
They had good systems of irrigation. They knew the 
value of fertihzers, and fitted their crops to the quahty of 
the ground. They excelled in horticulture, knowing how 
to graft and being able to produce new varieties of fruits 
and flowers. They introduced into the west many trees 
and plants from the east, and wrote scientific treatises on 
farming. 

Their commerce attained great proportions. Their cara- Commerce, 
vans traversed the empire from one end to the other, and 
their sails covered the seas. They held at many places 
great fairs and markets, some of which were visited by 
merchants from all parts of Europe and Asia. Their mer- 
chants had connections with China, India, and the East 
Indies, with the interior of Africa and with Russia, and 
with all the countries lying around the Baltic. 

Much of the Mohammedan civilization was destined to Arabic civiiiza- 
be introduced into Europe, especially by means of the cru- by the Turks, 
sades. In its own home, however, it suffered almost com- 
plete annihilation by the coming of the ignorant and fanat- 
ical Turks, who showed, indeed, that they could prey upon 
it, but could not assimilate and improve it ; whose fanati- 
cism led them to oppose all science, because it might be in- 
jurious to their rehgious belief; and whose hatred of peo- 
ple of other religions led them into wars with them, during 
which industries and commerce languished. Since the 
Turks were Barbarians and without any appreciation of the 
necessaries as well as the luxuries of civilized life, they 
tended to destroy the culture which they found. Since 
their coming Mohammedanism has no longer been what it 
was originally, and the lands which were once gardens are 
now almost like a desert, 



196 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Urban II. 
preaches the 
first crusade. 



Peter the 
Hermit. 



The descendants of Togrul Beg continued their con- 
quests to the west till they took Asia Minor from the Em- 
peror and even threatened Constantinople. In his extrem- 
ity the Emperor is said to have sent messengers to the Pope 
to ask aid. In 1095 Urban II. went into France, and at 
a council at Clermont called on all the west to take up 
arms and recover the holy places. He met with an unex- 
pected response. After he had ceased speaking, thousands 
pressed around him, took the vow to go on the crusade and 
received the sign, a red cross fastened on the right shoul- 
der, diagonally across the breast. Urban renewed the 
prohibition of private war, put the property of all crusaders 
under the special protection of the Church, offered large 
rewards to all who would join the movement, and com- 
manded the clergy to preach the crusade in all parts of 
France. Among the many who went out to preach the 
crusade was Peter the Hermit. The ordinary accounts of 
Peter, which made him the originator of the crusade, are 
entirely false. He had never been in Palestine ; had 
never seen the Pope ; and had nothing to do with Urban 
till after the crusade had been announced at Clermont. 
By his preaching he got together a few thousand men and 
women — simply a disorderly mob without arms — and set 
out for Palestine. He led them to Constantinople and 
thence a short distance into Asia Minor, where they were 
cut to pieces by the Turks. Peter himself escaped to Con- 
stantinople, and waited for the main army to come up. 

There was no leader of the crusade, and no central 
authority. From the north of France came Hugo of Ver- 
mandois, a brother of King Philip I. ; Stephen of Blois, 
Robert of Normandy, Godfrey of Boulogne and his two 
brothers, Eustace and Baldwin, and their nephew, Bald- 
win the Younger ; from southern France, Raymond, count 
of Toulouse; and from Italy, Boemund and his nephew, 



Mohammedanism and the Crusades 197 

Tancred. Of all these only one, Boemund, had any abil- The leaders 
ity as a leader ; and unfortunately for the undertaking, it L"rn^To?con-^ 
was impossible for him to obtain the leadership. Each one soiidated. 
led his own men, and was practically independent of all the 
others. It is said that the army which was thus brought 
together numbered nearly a million, but we have no means 
of forming an accurate estimate of its size. 

The crusading army was very motley in its make-up. 
Many had, of course, joined the movement for religious 
motives, and wished to have a part in the meritorious work Motives of the 
of reconquering the holy places. The Pope had promised ^^^^ ^^^' 
remission of sins to all who should lose their lives while on 
the crusade, and many supernatural advantages seemed 
likely to be derived from such an undertaking. Others 
were there who had run away from their debts or from their 
families ; there were even criminals, who hoped thus to 
escape punishment. Many serfs ran away from their lords, 
and from the hard condition under which they lived. 
Many came because of the opportunity to gratify their love 
of adventure and travel. The leaders, almost without ex- 
ception, had joined in the movement principally because 
they wished to acquire power and establish an independent 
principality somewhere in the east, on lands to be taken 
from the Saracens or from the Greeks. The Pope had the 
desire to deliver the holy places, but at the same time he 
wished to extend his ecclesiastical authority over the east. 
The cities of Italy, some of which joined to a certain ex- 
tent in the first crusade, were led principally by the desire 
to extend their commerce and to secure harbor privileges 
in the east. 

Remembering his recent experiences with Robert Guis- 
card, Alexius, the Emperor at Constantinople, feared the Alexius has 
crusaders. He divined the purpose of the leaders and felt foTf eadng"the 
that he was not secure from their attacks. It was quite crusaders. 



iqS a SJiort History of Mcdiceval Europe 



Niccea taken, 
1097. 



Antioch taken, 
109S. 



Kerbogha. 



natural that he should endeavor to protect his interests. 
As the leaders arrived at Constantinople he either per- 
suaded or forced them to take an oath that they would de- 
liver to him all the territory which they should conquer, 
promising them that, if they wished, they might receive it 
back as a fief. Boemund was the only one of the crusaders 
frank enough to tell the Emperor what his intentions were. 
He offered his services, plainly informing Alexius that he 
wished to make his fortune in the east; but the Emperor 
distrusted him. 

In 1097 the army, after crossing the Bosporus, set out 
for Nicrea. After besieging the town for several days, they 
were about to take it when Alexius secured its surrender to 
himself. The crusaders, not allowed to sack the place, 
were angry with Alexius, and accused him of acting in bad 
faith with them. Their charges were, however, without 
foundation. 

The marcli through Asia Minor was a difficult one and 
many perished by the way of hunger and thirst. Toward 
the end of October, 1097, the army reached Antioch, 
which they soon besieged. The city held out for several 
months, and a great army under Kerbogha, Emir of Mosul, 
was approaching for its relief, when Boemund told the 
other leaders that if they would agree to give him Antioch 
for his possession, he would deliver it into their hands. 
They consented, and the following night Boemund secured 
an entrance into the city. At daybreak the gates were 
opened, the crusaders rushed in, and the work of destruc- 
tion and pillage began. The ^Mohammedans were killed 
without pity and their houses looted. Only the citadel 
held out, but to this, in the wild scramble for spoil, the 
crusaders paid no attention. Three days later Kerbogha 
arrived, and now the crusaders became the besieged. For a 
few days Kerbogha pushed the siege with great vigor. The 



MoJiaiiiuicdanistn and the Crusades 199 

Christians lost courage, and it seemed that the city could 
not hold out against Kerbogha ; but a pious fraud was now 
planned, which filled the crusaders with enthusiasm and 
enabled them to overcome the besieging army. It was 
said that in a vision the whereabouts of the holy lance had 
been revealed to one of the crusaders, and when they dug 
in the place designated, of course they found the lance. 
Some of the crusaders knew that this was a fraud, but 
others believed in it. When the army marched out with 
this lance at its head, the army of Kerbogha was put to 
utter rout, leaving its camp in the hands of the Christians. 

In the meantime Baldwin, the brother of Godfrey, had 
gone to Edessa and had by very questionable means made Edessa. 
himself master of the city. Edessa became a most impor- 
tant outpost of the Christians. 

After the destruction of Kerbogha' s army the way was 
open to Jerusalem. Boemund wished to remain in An- 
tioch until he had got the city under his control. Ray- Ambition of 
mond of Toulouse, envious at the good fortune of Boemund, Toulouse. ° 
and himself coveting the city, refused to proceed to Jeru- 
salem. He tried in vain in every way to gain a foothold 
in the neighborhood of Antioch and to dispossess Boe- 
mund. At length the crusaders, angry at the delay, de- 
clared they would burn Antioch unless Raymond gave up 
the struggle and led them on to Jerusalem. Raymond 
yielded very unwillingly, and more than once stopped by 
the way and laid siege to some town. At last, worn out 
with waiting, the crusaders set fire to their tents and be- 
gan a mad sort of race toward Jerusalem. Reaching the 
city they besieged it for several weeks, and finally stormed Jerusalem 

.. T 1 taken, 1099. 

It, July 15, 1099- 

Hardly was the city taken when a quarrel arose as to 
what should be done with it. The clergy wished to make 
it an ecclesiastical state under the rule of a Patriarch. The 



200 A SJiort History of Mediceval Europe 



Godfrey of 
Boulogne 
made Pro- 
tector of the 
Holy Grave, 
1099. 



Crusade of 
I 100-2. 

Strife among 
the Christian 
states in Syria. 



Zenki takes 
Edessa, 1144. 



princes, however, would not listen to this, but could with 
difficulty find any one who wished to assume control of it. 
In the end a compromise was effected by which Godfrey of 
Boulogne was put over it with the title of Protector of 
the Holy Grave. A few days later the crusaders left Jeru- 
salem and began their journey home, and the first crusade 
was at an end. It had cost Europe an immense number of 
men, and, if we look at the actual results, had accomplished 
very little. Boemund had possession of Antioch, Baldwin 
of Edessa, and Godfrey of Jerusalem. Alexius had also 
regained nearly all of Asia Minor. In the eyes of the west, 
however, the reconquest of the Holy Grave was by far the 
most important result of the crusade and well worth all that 
it had cost. The returning crusaders were received with 
every mark of honor, and their stories so filled the people 
with enthusiasm that a new crusade was immediately organ- 
ized. From 1 100 to 1102 several hundred thousand men 
went to the east, only to be cut to pieces in Asia Minor. 

The Christian states which had been founded in the 
east had a checkered history, many chapters of which were 
far from ideal. Lack of good political judgment, jealousy, 
intrigue, and treachery prevented their best development. 
They quarrelled with the Emperor and with each other, and 
it often happened that alliances were made between the 
Mohammedans and the Christians of one state against those 
of another. 

The new emir of Mosul, Zenki, was ambitious to rule 
over the Mohammedan world and began a policy of con- 
quest. In 1 1 44 he took Edessa and threatened both An- 
tioch and Jerusalem, till, in their extremity, the Christians 
appealed to the west for help. The fall of Edessa caused 
great consternation in Europe, without, however, producing 
any immediate action. 

Europe had undergone a great change since Urban 11. 



Mohammedanism and the Crusades 20T 

had first issued the call to a crusade. Contested papal Europe 
elections and the rule of some inefficient Popes had some- ^ ^"sed. 
what reduced the power and prestige of the Papacy. Eu- 
rope had in the meantime been growing rich from her rap- 
idly increasing commerce, and wealth was producing a 
great change in the people. Political interests were oc- 
cupying a larger place in the minds of all. Louis VI. was 
strengthening the royal power in France. Roger had made 
a kingdom out of Sicily and southern Italy. The cities of 
Lombardy were increasing in wealth, power, and inde- 
pendence. A great change, chief index of which was 
Abelard, had taken place in the thought of Europe. Here 
and there people had begun to think independently of 
the Church and her creed. Reason was awakening. The 
study of Roman law had been revived. Poets were begin- 
ning to sing songs of love and wine. Europe was slowly 
recovering from her attack of asceticism, and was thinking 
less of the future world and giving herself up to the enjoy- 
ment of this. Arnold of Brescia was in Rome, preaching 
against the wealth of the clergy and their exercise of polit- 
ical authority. The high demands of Gregory VII. had 
been relaxed a little. Pope Eugene III. was himself un- 
important, and the leadership was in the hands of Bernhard 
of Clairvaux, who did not wish that the Popes should have 
secular power. He thought that their spiritual authority 
should be enforced only by spiritual means. 

A second crusade under these circumstances was difficult. 
But, by his eloquence, Bernhard of Clairvaux overcame all 
difficulties. Louis VII. of France was desirous of going, 
and Conrad HI. of Germany yielded to Bernhard's fiery 
speech and took the vow. The German army did the 
Greeks much damage while passing through the Empire, 
and the Emperor actually had to make war on them before 
they could be brought to their senses. The French army 



202 A SJiort History of McdicBval Europe 



Failure of the 
second 
crusade, 
1147-49. 



Saladin con- 
quers Syria, 
1187. 



Frederick 
Barbarossa. 



was more discreet ; but to make the situation more critical, 
King Robert II. of Sicily was making war on the Empire. 
The Emperor was in great danger from the crusaders, but 
he was adroit enough to keep the peace with them and get 
them across the Bosporus. Both armies, however, went 
to pieces in Asia Minor. Hunger, thirst, the fatigue of 
the journey, and the weapons of the Mohammedans left only 
a few thousand men who reached Palestine. There they 
made the mistake of besieging Damascus, whose emir was 
friendly to the Christians, instead of using all their efforts 
to break the power of Zenki, the real enemy. The second 
crusade ended in making the condition of the Christians in 
Syria worse instead of better ; and Europe was so disgusted 
with the failure of the great preparations, that for many 
years no further efforts were made to send reenforcements 
to the east. 

Fortunately for the Syrian Christians, Zenki died and 
his power went to pieces ; but they learned no wisdom 
from their experiences. Intrigue and treachery increased 
among them. They became weaker and more contempti- 
ble till, in 1 187, Saladin, who had made himself master of 
western Asia and Egypt, was forced to make war on them. 
He had borne with them for a long time, but finally, en- 
raged at their faithlessness, he attacked them, and in a few 
weeks had taken all their strongholds. His capture of 
Jerusalem stirred the west profoundly and led the great 
rulers, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, Philip II. of France, 
and Richard I. of England to organize a crusade for its re- 
covery. After the most careful and statesmanlike prepara- 
tions, Frederick led a well-disciplined army of one hundred 
thousand men through Asia Minor, only to meet his death 
by drowning while crossing a swollen mountain stream, and 
the army, left without a leader, melted away. Only a few 
of them reached Syria. 



MoJiaiiinicdanism and the Crusades 203 

The armies of Philip and Richard went by sea and safely Philip II. and 
reached their destination ; but their effectiveness was dimin- ^^ ^^ ' 
ished by the quarrel which broke out between the two 
kings. On the way Richard conquered Cyprus and made 
of it a Christian kingdom, which was to be a strong defence 
for many years against the ^Mohammedans. Before the 
armies had reached Syria the Christians there had made 
the mistake of attacking Acco, a strong fortress on the The siege of 
coast. Their efforts should have been to drive Saladin into ^^°" 
the interior. They did not specially need Acco, since 
they already had several good ports, and in taking it the 
third crusade wore itself out. After its capture Philip re- 
turned home, and Richard, too, after engaging in many 
chivalrous adventures without accomplishing anything for 
the good of the cause, sailed away. He was shipwrecked 
in the Adriatic, taken prisoner, and set free only on the 
payment of a heavy ransom. The third crusade was also a 
failure, for the conquest of Acco was no adequate return for 
the expenditure of means, effort, and life which had been 
made. 

The crusade of Henry VI. was only a part of his larger Henry VI. 
plan of conquest, by which he meant to make himself master 
of the Greek Empire and of the east. In 1196 he sent an 
army of sixty thousand men into Syria ; but his unexpected 
death left his men without a master, and the army's dissolu- 
tion was rapid. 

The west was exhausted and discouraged. Her great ar- 
mies had melted away in the east without accomplishing 
anything. Hundreds of thousands of men were still ready 
to take the crusader's vow, but few were willing to fulfil it. 
All the efforts of Innocent III. could bring together only a The lourth 
few thousand knights, who, hoping to secure the service of directed 
the Venetian fleet in their undertaking, went to Venice, agamst Con- 

°' stantmople, 

Being unable to pay the whole sum demanded for trans- 1202-4. 



204 ^ Short History of McdicBval Europe 

portation, they agreed to work for their passage by assisting 
the Venetians in reducing Zara, a city on the coast of Dal- 
matia, and the home of pirates who had been preying on 
the commerce of the Venetians. In October, 1202, Zara 
was reduced and the crusaders demanded the fulfilment of 
the agreement. They wished to be carried to Egypt be- 
cause it seemed to them that it would be better to attack 
the Mohammedan power in its most important seat. But 
Venice was at peace with the Mohammedans of Egypt, and 
was enjoying a rich commerce with them. The Doge of 
Venice, therefore, shrewdly turned the crusaders aside from 
their purpose and led them against Constantinople. His 
purpose in this was to avenge himself and wipe out a private 
grudge against the city, and also to secure more harbor and 
commercial privileges in the east. Constantinople was at 
this time the leading commercial city of the Mediterranean ; 
Venice envied her her supremacy and hoped with the help 
of the crusaders to humble her. The crusaders themselves 
had little interest in the war with the Mohammedans. They 
were for the most part soldiers of fortune, adventurers ready 
for any undertaking that promised them a rich reward. An 
exiled Emperor offered them a large sum of money if they 
would restore him to his throne, and Venice added her in- 
ducements. In spite of the opposition of the Pope, the 
crusaders therefore moved against Constantinople and took 
it. They soon quarrelled with the Emperor whom they had 
restored because he could not pay what he had promised, 
and this led to the sacking of the city, the expulsion of the 
Emperor, and the establishment of a western man as ruler 
The Latin in Constantinople. This Latin kingdom, as it was called, 
eSf^°204-6i'^ was not ended till 1261, when the Greeks put an end to it 
and restored an Emperor of their own. The Venetians re- 
ceived as their share of the spoils in 1204 many of the 
Greek islands, some parts of the mainland of Greece and a 



Mohammedanism and the Crusades 205 

large quarter, and harbor and commercial privileges in Con- 
stantinople. From this time they controlled to a great ex- 
tent the eastern Mediterranean, and were the foremost com- 
mercial power of Europe. 

The crusades which followed this expedition against Con- 
stantinople were all unimportant in their results. The most 
curious of them all was the Children's Crusade. In the The Children's 
summer of 1212 forty thousand children were brought to- 
gether in Germany and crossed the Alps into Italy. The 
number gradually melted away by deaths, desertions, or 
seizures, and only a handful of them reached Brindisi, from 
which a few of them are said to have sailed, never to be 
heard of again. The fate of the French children was even 
worse. Thirty thousand of them joined in the march tow- 
ard Marseilles, from which port probably five thousand of 
them sailed away, only to be betrayed and sold as slaves in 
the Mohammedan markets. 

In 1 2 1 7 another crusade was attempted, which resulted 
in the capture of Damietta. The Christians, however, were 
not able to improve their opportunities, the city was soon 
taken from them, and their army was destroyed. Frederick 
II. tried to make a crusade, but won all his victories by di- 
plomacy and not by the sword. In 1239-40 another cru- The last cru- 
sade was made, but without results. In 1244 Mohamme- porSm."'"^' 
dan Asia was overrun by a wild horde of Turks who had 
been called in by one of the political factions of the Mo- 
hammedans theuiselves, and who devastated the country 
west of the Euphrates and captured Jerusalem and all the 
Christian cities in southern Syria ; and from this time Jeru- 
salem, lost to the Christians, was destined to remain under 
Mohammedan control. Louis IX. of France undertook to 
recover the Holy City, but after some successes in Egypt 
his army was destroyed and he returned to Europe without 
having accomplished anything. He made another crusade 



2o6 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

in 1270, the objective point of which was Tunis, but during 
the siege of that city he died. 

The end of the Christian power in Syria was fast ap- 
proaching. The mihtary-monkish Orders fought with each 
other, and the Venetians and other ItaUan states were en- 
Syria recon- gaged in constant feuds. The Mohammedans were carry- 
Mohamme-'^^ ing on the work of conquest with skill. In 1265 Caesarea 
dans. ^j^(^ Arsuf were taken and destroyed. The great fortress 

Safed fell the next year. In 1268 Joppa shared the same 
fate, and the whole of northern Syria was lost by the sur- 
render of Antioch in May of the same year. Thereupon 
Gregory X. had a crusade preached throughout all Europe, 
but without success. More than once divisions among the 
Mohammedans gave the remaining Christians in Syria a 
little respite, but their fate could not be avoided. Tripolis 
was taken in 1289, and in 1291 Acco was besieged and 
after a few months of brave resistance captured. The 
Christians were thus driven out of Syria, and the whole 
country was in the hands of the Mohammedans. The 
Knights of St. John established themselves on some of the 
islands, especially Rhodes, which they held for nearly two 
hundred years. Cyprus remained a Latin kingdom until 
1489, when it was seized by Venice and made a part of 
her territory. 

Although there were no more crusades, the idea of hav- 
ing one did not die. Several Popes during the thirteenth 
and fourteenth centuries called on Europe to arm itself 
against the Mohammedans. Several kings of France even 
took the cross and proclaimed a crusade. This was, how- 
ever, done apparently for no other purpose than to afford 
the king an opportunity to collect some extraordinary taxes. 
Why did the The reasons for the cessation of the crusades are many. In 
cease^^^ the first place they had all failed. Millions of lives and 

untold wealth had been squandered in the east, and noth- 



Mohammedanism and the Crusades 207 

ing had been accomplished. The people of Europe lost 
faith in the movement. The crusading spirit was turned 
into other channels. In Spain the war was kept up with 
the Mohammedans. On the eastern frontiers of Germany- 
crusades were carried on against the heathen Letts and 
Slavs. The heretics in the Empire were put on the 
same plane as the infidels, and wars against them were de- 
clared to be as holy and deserving of the same rewards as 
those against the Mohammedans. Then the national life 
of the countries was growing much stronger. International 
struggles arose, and all the forces of the country were 
needed at home. At the same time the religious needs of 
the people were satisfied in another way. Gethsemanes, 
Via Dolorosas, and Calvaries were constructed in the west, 
and these artificial holy places came to be regarded with al- 
most as much superstitious reverence as were their originals. 
The rising sale of indulgences also made it unnecessary to go 
on a long and dangerous journey to the holy land to win 
religious peace. The life of Europe grew larger, its inter- 
ests more complex, and the fields of its activity more nu- 
merous. There was no longer any surplus of energy to be 
spent in such far-away enterprises. 

That the crusades failed to accomplish what they were 
organized to do is evident. The causes of this failure are Causes of 
not far to seek. The crusaders themselves were much to 
blame, both while on the way and after they reached the 
east. They were too lawless and moblike. They lacked 
good leaders. The princes quarrelled constantly, and their 
personal ambitions, especially those of the Normans, kept 
them from working for the common good. The Greek Em- 
perors, too, followed a disastrous policy, although the conduct 
of the crusaders generally drove them to it. The struggle 
between the German Emperors and the Popes also had a 
baneful influence. The Italian cities come in for their 



failure. 



2o8 A Short History of Mcdiceval Europe 



share of the blame because they were interested so deeply 
in commerce that they often sacrificed the common inter- 
ests to their selfish ends. Finally, the difficulty of colo- 
nizing so large a territory and of absorbing the Mohammedan 
population was so great that it could not be overcome. 

The effects, both direct and indirect, of the crusades on 
Europe were great and varied. They did much to increase 
the power of the Papacy, especially during the first hun- 
dred years. Urban II. virtually was at the head of Chris- 
tian Europe, and his leadership of this most popular move- 
ment confirmed him in the high place in the mind of the 
Christian world. Chivalry was perhaps inevitable, but the 
crusades forced it to become organized and made of it the 
institution which it became. The military-monkish Or- 
ders owed their existence wholly to the crusades. The 
conquests of the German Order among the heathen on the 
Baltic may be regarded as one of the most important of 
their indirect effects. 

The crusades helped destroy feudalism. The barons 
often sold their rights, privileges, lands, and other feudal 
possessions in order to get money to go on a crusade. The 
creation of a new nobility to offset the old was also hast- 
ened by the crusades. They diminished the number of 
feudal subjects of the lower class and so created the demand 
for laborers which resulted in the elevation of the serfs into 
a class of free day -laborers. They also had some effect on 
the process by which the kings were increasing their power 
at the expense of the nobles. They did not destroy feu- 
dalism, but did much to weaken it. Since they brought 
together large numbers of people of all countries, they de- 
veloped the consciousness of national differences. Each 
nation came to hate all the others, one of the necessary 
steps, apparently, in the development of nationality. 

On commerce the effects of the crusades were most 



Mohammedanism and the Crnsades 209 

marked. They gave a great impetus to ship-building, Commerce, 
since the carrying of pilgrims between Europe and Asia 
came to be a lucrative occupation, and the amount of 
commerce greatly increased. Many new objects of mer- 
chandise were now introduced into Europe. The crusades 
created and supplied a large demand in the west for wines, 
sugar, cotton, silk, all kinds of textile fabrics, rugs, pot- 
tery, glass-ware, spices, medicines, perfumes, coloring sub- 
stances, incense, various kinds of oil, mastix, dates, grains, 
and many other things. It would not be too much to say 
that the crusades made Europe rich. The cities especially 
profited by the commerce, which greatly hastened the rise 
of the citizen or middle class. The crusades gave a strong 
impulse to literary activity. Many chronicles, histories, 
and poems were written about them, and the legends 
which grew out of them were innumerable. The literature 
of chivalry may be traced indirectly to the same impulse. 
Under their influence the great cycles of legends about 
Solomon, Troy, and Alexander the Great, arose. In 1141 
the Koran was translated into Latin. About the same time 
a school was established in Paris to teach the eastern lan- 
guages, such as Armenian and Arabic. 

Also Europe's fund of knowledge was generally in- 
creased. As regards zoology, the crusaders became ac- 
quainted with many animals which aroused their curiosity, 
and their interest resulted in the formation of zoological 
gardens, first of all in Sicily and Italy, in which strange 
animals were collected. Further, some new domestic ani- 
mals were introduced into Europe, such as the mule, the 
donkey, and the Arab horse. 

In botany and practical farming Europe had much to Practical 
learn from the Arabs. They taught the best methods of ^™'"^- 
irrigation. The ''Dutch" windmill is an Arabic inven- 
tion, used for grinding corn and drawing water in the 



210 A Short History of Mediaeval Europe 



Medicine and 
chemistry. 



The horizon 
of Europe 
enlarged. 



east, till it was introduced into Europe by the crusaders. 
Many new plants and grains were brought to the west, and 
experiments made in their cultivation. 

In medicine and chemistry, which among the Arabs 
were closely related, the Christians learned of sirups, juleps, 
elixir, camphor, senna, rhubarb, and many similar articles. 
Many chemical terms, such as alembic, alcohol, alkali, 
borax, and amalgam, are Arabic in origin. The Arabs' 
knowledge of mathematics and astronomy has already been 
spoken of, and the intercourse between the Christians and 
the Mohammedans facilitated the spread to the west of the 
Arabic achievements in these subjects. 

Most important of all, perhaps, was the general enlarge- 
ment of the intellectual horizon of Europe, caused by the 
travel of the Christians in foreign lands which had a differ- 
ent, higher, and finer civihzation than their own. Life in 
the west was still very rude. The houses lacked all luxur- 
ies and comforts, and most of those things which are now 
regarded as necessaries. The European, whose experiences 
had been very limited indeed, entered into a new world 
when he set out on a crusade. He found new climates, 
new natural products, strange dress, houses, and customs. 
The features of the landscape, and even the skies above 
him, were different, and in the houses he found many new 
objects of comfort and luxury. The geographical knowl- 
edge of the west was very limited, but the crusades brought 
experience in travel and a practical knowledge of large ter- 
ritories so that great interest was aroused in the study of 
geography. A good knowledge of the Mediterranean and 
large parts of Asia and Africa was acquired. The curiosity 
awakened by the new regions, together with the mercenary 
and commercial interests in many quarters, led Europeans 
to undertake long journeys of discovery. One of the most 
famous of the travellers of the Middle Age was Marco 



Mohaiiiniedanisni and the Crusades 211 

Polo, who traversed central Asia, visiting all the peoples of 
that region, and finally reaching even the Pacific. Other 
travellers only a little less famous are Plan Carpin and An- 
drew of Longjumeau. The accounts of their travels, which 
they published, were very widely read, and while adding 
information they increased the interest of Europe in for- 
eign lands. The influence of the crusades in this direction 
can hardly be overestimated. Without them the Renais- 
sance could not have been what it was. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITIES, MORE ESPECIALLY IN 
FRANCE 

The cities in The history of the cities of the Roman Empire during the 

first ten centuries of the Christian era is obscure. In Gaul, 
besides a larger number of strongholds (castra) there were 
more than one hundred cities (civitates) governed by the 
Roman municipal form of government. In the fourth cen- 
tury they were all on the road to ruin because of the finan- 
cial oppression which they endured from the Emperor. 
Some time during or after the invasion of the Barbarians 
municipal government was destroyed, and the cities passed 
into the hands of a bishop or of some nobleman in the neigh- 
borhood, a city often being divided, with the bishop in con- 
trol of part of it and the nobleman ruling over the remain- 
der. Some of the cities were actually destroyed by the 
invasion and their sites entirely lost. 

The Germans, it will be remembered, generally settled in 
the country. At the time of Karl the Great by far the 
larger number of the inhabitants of Scandinavia and Ger- 
many still lived in the country. The violence of the times, 
and especially the invasions of the Norsemen and Huns, 
compelled the people to live together in walled inclosures, 
and these became in time cities. Many cities sprang up 
around monasteries and castles. They were, of course, small 
in their beginnings and grew slowly. The ruling class did 
not live in the cities but in the castles. 



TJie Development of the Cities 213 

Before the time of Karl the cities were ruled by a lord, The cities in 
whether duke, count, or baron. Karl the Great put almost }J^^^|^3.nds of 1 
all the cities of his Empire under an officer who was gen- 
erally called a count. The people of the cities had no 
voice in their own government. Their lord collected the 
taxes, appointed officials, kept order, and punished offend- 
ers. It is possible that in some cases the people had pre- 
served a mere remnant of their former independence and 
had a certain right in determining who should hold a 
i^yff of the offices, but practically it is true that they had no 
political rights. They were at the mercy of their lords. 

A sort of basis or starting-point for the free commune of 
later times was the guilds. People who had common in- Guilds, 
terests were brought together and united into a secret or- 
ganization known as a guild. Each occupation had a sep- 
arate guild, that worked at first only for its own interests ; 
but later some of them united and supported the common 
cause. 

The principal cause of the communal revolt of the elev- 
enth and twelfth centuries was the revival of industry and Revival of in- 
commerce, and the consequent increase of wealth. It was commerce, 
the merchants who led in the movement, a proof of which 
is that the revolt spread along the routes of commerce and 
travel. During the tenth century efforts were made to put 
an end to private wars and to secure peace. Feudalism be- 
came more fixed in its customs and a certain degree of order 
prevailed, to which fact the revival of commerce is in large 
measure due. There was no revolt against the burdens im- 
posed upon the cities by their lords until there grew up a 
rich merchant class, a sort of aristocracy of wealth, com- 
manding resources and means of carrying on the struggle 
with the lord, but when this class became numerous the 
cities rebelled against the heavy taxes levied on them, and 
in the struggle that followed were able to secure not only 



214 ^ Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Cities in 
southern 
France. 



Opposition to 

the corn- 



freedom from this unjust taxation but also in many cases the 
right of governing themselves. 

In France this movement of revolt had its first faint be- 
ginnings in the tenth century, and reached its height about 
the years 1 050-1 200. It is probable that the cities in south- 
ern France were the first to enjoy large political Hberties 
and rights, but the charters which confirmed these rights did 
not antedate those of the cities in the north. Early in the 
eleventh century there were many cities in Provence and 
Languedoc which were essentially free communes, though 
they did not receive their charters for more than one hun- 
dred years after that time. In the north, up to the year 
1 100, there were perhaps not more than a half dozen cities 
that had secured the title of commune, but in the years be- 
tween 1 100 and 1 135 a large number of them had obtained 
charters — Noyon, Valenciennes, Amiens, Corbie, Soissons, 
Bruges, Lille, St. Omer, Ghent, Liege, and others. Then 
the movement quickly became popular and spread rapidly. 

Many of the cities met with great resistance in their 
efforts to free themselves from their masters. It is only nat- 
ural that the lords of the cities should have opposed any- 
thing which threatened to diminish their power and income. 
The clergy were generally exceedingly hostile to the move- 
ment. Commune was declared by them to be '' a new and 
detestable word." ''Agreements made with them are null 
and binding on no one because they are contrary to the 
canon law and to the decisions of the holy fathers. " ' ' They 
were introducing diabolical usages which tended to over- 
throw the jurisdiction of the Church." Several Church 
councils legislated against them. The nobility also were at 
first, for the most part, hostile to the formation of the com- 
munes and endeavored to put them down by force. Some 
of them, however, were glad enough to part with their pre- 
rogatives for money and made the cities pay well for their 



The Development of the Cities 2J5 

privileges. Still others, at least toward the end of the move- 
ment, were wise enough to see that a prosperous commune 
was of far more value than a poor dependent city, and there- 
fore hastened the process by offering charters to those cities 
which had not already secured them, in some cases even 
forcing the cities to buy them. The kings of France fol- Policy of the 
lowed no fixed policy in the matter but were guided in each ^'"^'^^^^ V\wg^. 
particular case by their own royal interests. For instance, 
in 1 1 1 2 Louis VI. protected the commune of Amiens and 
destroyed that of Laon. His successors, however, saw that 
the commune might be used against the nobles, and were 
therefore glad to confirm charters whenever they were ap- 
pealed to. 

Although many of the cities got their charters in a peace- 
able way, some of them acquired them only by force of Charters ac- 
arms. Others, indeed, were unable to get a charter even ^Jce. ^ 
in this way, being successfully resisted by their lord and kept 
in subjection. Montpellier (1142), Toulouse (1188), 
Beziers (1167), Laon (i 106-12), Lille, Ghent, Amiens, 
and many others were compelled to fight hard for their char- 
ters. Vezelay revolted five times and attempted to get a 
charter, but was unsuccessful every time. Chateau Neuf, 
near Tours, appealed to arms a dozen times, but never suc- 
ceeded in acquiring a charter. Orleans was so thoroughly 
chastised by Louis VIL for her attempt in 1137, that she 
never again tried it. 

The charters were far more easily purchased with money Charters ac- 
than acquired by revolt. The nobles were always in need chase. ^^"''' 
of money, and since the cities were rich, the common way 
of obtaining a charter was by purchase. Even after a 
charter had been secured it was not uncommon for a com- 
mune to extend its power and prerogatives and ask for a 
new charter in confirmation of its new privileges. The 
cities in England, it may be said, always got their charters 



2i6 A Short History of Mcdiceval Europe 

by purchase, the movement there never taking on the char- 
acter of a revolt. In Germany the cities were not allowed 
any political hberties during the reign of the Hohenstaufen, 
although they secured a great many restrictions upon the 
arbitrary taxation of their lords ; but in, or after, the inter- 
regnum, when the imperial power was either destroyed or 
greatly weakened, they were able to emancipate themselves 
entirely and secure their complete political independence. 

It was only in the south and in the west of France that 
the cities were successful in establishing themselves as com- 
munes. In the central part, which was more directly under 

No communes the control of the king, there were almost no communes. 

France^^^ The king was so near to them that he was able to check 

their growth, or, at least, to keep them in partial depend- 
ence. Orleans and Paris never became communes. All 
such cities have been called '■'■ villes de bourgeoisie." This 
distinction into two classes is arbitrary, because it is often 
impossible to distinguish villes from communes. They 
both received charters. The charters of the villes, how- 
ever, simply guaranteed that the people of the city should 
not be arbitrarily taxed or should have certain commercial 
or other privileges. Generally these cities were not allowed 
to rule themselves or to elect their officers. They were 
subject to their king or lord and were ruled by the officers 

The so called whom he sent to them. In some of these '' villes de bour- 

geJTisi? ^°^^' geoisie," however, there was a certain amount of political 
autonomy, and the people had a voice in the election of 
some of their officers. Since the king's officers were always 
present, these villes were always peaceable. The mob was 
kept in check, and the finances of the city were well man- 
aged and kept in good condition. Louis VII. gave a charter 
of the above kind to the little ville Lorris, which was so 
well adapted to the object for which it was intended that 
it was afterward introduced into more than eighty villes in 



TJie Development of the Cities 217 

the central part of France. The charter of Beaumont-en- 
Argonne was used in more than three hundred villes in the 
northeast, especially in the archbishopric of Rheims, the 
duchies of Luxemburg and Lorraine, and the county of 
Chiny. This charter was very like that of the com- 
mune. It provided for the election by the people of the 
ville of a mayor and a kind of Board of Commissioners, 
who administered the government, but rendered an account 
of their work to their lord, the archbishop of Rheims. 
They even had the right of administering justice to a cer- 
tain extent, the Archbishop reserving for his court only the 
more important cases. The distinction between such villes 
and the communes would perhaps be made clear by saying 
that the communes became feudal individuals while the 
villes remained subject to feudal dues without ever becom- 
ing feudal individuals and having vassals under them. 

The number of these villes was greatly increased from 
the eleventh century on, by the founding of many new 
towns. In order to improve their estates or to increase 
their incomes the lords often established new settlements New towns es- 
which grew into towns or cities. The common name for ^ ^^^^ ' 
all such was '* ville neuve," or new town. In order to 
secure inhabitants for these, large inducements had to be 
made. The lord generally published a charter 'and made 
it known for many miles around that he intended to estab- 
lish such a new town, and offered special rights and privi- 
leges to all who would come and settle there. The ground 
was generally parcelled out among those who came, a mar- 
ket established, and the fullest protection guaranteed. Such 
places were generally granted the right of asylum, so that 
all criminals who fled there, except thieves and murderers, 
were free from punishment or vengeance. Serfs who ran 
away and Hved here for a year and a day without being 
claimed by their masters were then regarded as free men. 



2i8 A Short History of Mcdiceval Europe 

From this peculiar privilege the common name for such 
towns came to be '' places of safety " (salvitates). These and 
other privileges made such towns very popular and suc- 
ceeded in bringing many people within their walls. These 
villes were ruled always by the lord who founded them. 
Their inhabitants never gained their political independence 
and did not elect their officials. The charters secured for 
them only commercial or financial advantages, such as free- 
dom from many of the most burdensome feudal dues. 

Process of ac- It was generally a guild of merchants that began the agi- 

?er!'^'"^^^ ^^" tation to secure a charter for a commune. When it was 
determined to resist the lord, all the members took an oath 
of fidelity, and the people of the town were also asked to 
swear that they would support the common cause. Their 
desires were then formulated, and if they were successful 
their requests were granted and confirmed by a written 
document called a charter. The charters which have been 
preserved to us vary in size and character. Generally they 
contain only the new points at issue between the city and 
its lord. The old established customs and relations were 
not mentioned because, since they were not in question, it 
was not considered necessary to do so. While some cities 
secured charters which dealt only with their particular 
needs, and hence were local and special, many others de- 
manded that their lord give them the same charter which 
was in force in some other town. The charter of Soissons, 
for example, was introduced into nearly all the communes 
of the duchy of Burgundy. 

The town which thus received a charter was thereby fit- 

The commune ted into the feudal system just as if it were an individual. 

vidual. ' The commune then owed the regular feudal duties to its 
lord, and might in its turn become a feudal lord and have 
vassals of its own. The lord promised, above all, to pro- 
tect the commune in all its rights and against all violence 



The Development of the Cities 219 

of whatever kind, and the commune, tluough its elective 
officers, did homage to its lord and took the oath of fealty 
to him. The charter generally limited and fixed the 
amount of feudal dues which the lord might demand. He 
no longer had the right to demand money when he chose, 
but generally had to content himself with the payment of 
a fixed sum each year. The feudal rights of the lord were 
not destroyed, but merely curtailed and made definite. 
The commune owed military service to its lord. In ac- 
cordance with the ideas and customs of the times every 
commune had the right of private war, and if it were of- 
fended or injured by some commune or by some lord, 
whether clerical or lay, might arm its troops, secure allies, 
and attack the offender. The intercommunal feuds and 
wars added much to the violence of the times. On the 
other hand, it often happened that many communes 
leagued together to protect their common interests, espe- 
cially their commerce, and so did much to preserve the 
peace. Such were the leagues of the Hansa, of the Rhine, 
and of Suabia. 

The power in the commune was not generally vested in Limitation of 
the whole body of its inhabitants, though there were a few membership, 
cities, Lyon, Rouen, and some others, in which all inhab- 
itants were members of the commune and had political 
rights. It was more often the case that only the, members 
of one or more guilds exercised political rights. Ordina- 
rily, however, the commune was not a republic, but a kind 
of oligarchy or aristocracy. As the commune developed in 
wealth and power, and membership in it increased in value, 
it became more and more difficult to enter it, and the aris- 
tocratic or oligarchic character of the ruling body became 
more pronounced. 

The internal organization of the communes was not the 
same in all places. Almost everyone that did not accept a 



220 A Short History of McdicEval Europe 



Officials. 



Violence and 
mismanage- 
ment in the 
communes. 



ready-made charter created offices to suit itself. The prin- 
cipal officials bore different names in the different com- 
munes. They were in some cities called consuls ; in others 
there were a mayor and jurati, or men under oath to serve 
the commune in the best way possible. In the north of 
France they were called echevins or aldermen. Their 
numbers also differed. Sometimes there were two, some- 
times there were even twenty-four of them. Associated 
with these was a council differing in size from one city to 
another. Generally the method of election was very com- 
plex. It was not uncommon for the members of the com- 
mune to be divided into classes, generally according to 
their occupations, each with the right to elect a certain 
number of consuls. The bitter class feeling in the com- 
mune, however, often made it impossible for the people to 
agree on their officials, and especially in the south of France 
it became common to call in a foreigner who was made 
absolute master or podesta of the city. These officials, by 
whatever name they were called, exercised power in the 
city, both legislative and executive, and, within certain 
limitations, judicial. The management of the finances of 
the city was also in their hands. In order to attend to all 
these duties they had to have the service of a large number 



of helpers, such as tax-collectors, policemen, sheriffs, and 
the like. 

The communes had gained their liberty but did not know 
how to preserve it. Their members were invariably divided 
into factions, and feuds and street brawls were common. 
There were also social troubles coupled with the political 
difficulties. The lower orders were often ranged against 
the higher, the poor against the rich. The magistrates of 
the cities were generally hard masters, and those outside 
the ruling guilds were unmercifully imposed upon. This 
led to the formation of guilds among those who in the ear- 



The Development of the Cities 221 



Her time had been without such organizations. They or- 
ganized themselves for opposition, and sometimes succeeded 
in acquiring membership in the commune. Even if they 
failed to do this, they filled the city with violence. Peace 
had to be restored by someone from without, generally the 
king. Another cause of internal trouble was the bad ad- 
ministration of the finances of the city. The officials of 
the commune were often guilty of fraud and peculation, 
and it was impossible to bring such offenders to justice, 
because they refused to render any account of their doings 
to the people. They claimed that they had done their 
duty when they had made their reports to each other. It is 
not surprising, therefore, that the cities often became bank- 
rupt. The expenses of the communes, together with large 
sums that were taken from the treasury in a fraudulent way, 
far exceeded the regular income. 

These two things, the insolvency of the communes and 
their lawlessness, were the real cause of their destruction. 
The kings of France were now following steadily the policy 
of collecting all power into their own hands, and the pro- 
cess of centralization was becoming jnore and more rapid. 
The nobles were gradually yielding to the kings, and the 
communes were made the object of a policy which, in the The king and 
end, was sure to break them down. The officials of the munes. 
king's treasury interfered in the administration of the fi- 
nances of the communes and punished all maladministra- 
tion by seizing the charter of the commune and declaring 
it forfeited. The judicial jurisdiction of the communes was 
limited in every way. The parlement, which exercised the 
judicial power in France, tried to destroy the local tribu- 
nals by increasing the number of cases which could be 
settled only by the king or by his tribunal. The policy of 
parlement and sovereign was to make the king's justice 
prevalent throughout the land. The central authority also 



222 A Short History of Mcdiceval Europe 

increased the taxes of the communes. As the king's power 
grew he interfered more and more in the affairs of the com- 
munes. He controlled their elections and inspected their 
magistrates ; he imposed heavy fines on all those communes 
which refused him obedience or offended him in the slight- 
est way ; he placed all kinds of burdens on them in order 
to break them down, and when the day of reckoning came 
he had them in his power. He forced them to give up their 
charters and all that these stood for, their political inde- 
pendence and their privileges. They fell into the king's 
hands and so increased his power. This policy toward the 
communes may be said to date from Louis IX. (1227-70). 
Under Phihp IV. (1285-13 14) the seizures became fre- 
quent; and by the year 1400 the communes had lost all 
their acquired liberties, sunk back into dependence on the 
crown, and disappeared. 



CHAPTER XVI 

ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII., 1 494 

Because of the different racial elements which were found 
there, the unification of Italy during the Middle Age was Why the unifi- 
impossible. The people of the peninsula, thoroughly im- h^ the Middle 
bued with the Roman civilization, the Greeks of the south, p^g^gj^fg^ '"^' 
the Germans of Odovaker, the East Goths, the Lombards, 
the Saracens, and the Normans, all were there ; and each 
fought to obtain the mastery over all Italy. For political 
honors they had powerful rivals in the Pope and the Em- 
peror, the conflict between whom gave the cities the oppor- The cities ac- 
tunity to depose the imperial officers and to establish a uon^ and ^suc^-' 
local independent government similar to that of the com- the^EmperoT* 
munes, described in the preceding chapter. Frederick I. 
tried to reduce the cities to a position of dependence again, 
but the Lombard League and the Pope were too strong for 
him. The battle of Legnano (1176), and the treaty of 
Constance (1183), gave the cities about all the independ- 
ence they claimed, and left the Emperor little except his 
title. After the death of Frederick II. few Emperors tried 
to wield any authority in Italy. 

The cities had thus acquired their liberty, but this was no 
guaranty for peace and order. They were engaged in con- 
stant feuds with each other. Only members of the ruling Feuds inside 
guilds had a share in the government, and the class distinc- ^-^^ cities, 
tions among the inhabitants formed a large disturbing ele- 
ment. The higher and the lower nobility and the rich 
merchants struggled for authority and disregarded the rights 



224 A Short History of Medicuval E^iropc 



Podesta. 



Ghibelline 
and Guelf. 



The five pow- 
ers in Italy. 



of the industrial classes. The pride and ambition of the 
nobles led them into feuds which filled the streets with vio- 
lence. To put an end to this confusion the cities began to 
elect a dictator called a podesta (about 1200). The lower 
orders of society were at the same time striving to win a 
share in the government. They had organized themselves 
into guilds and now united in a commune of their own with 
a '' captain of the people " (capitan del popolo) at its head, 
as a rival of the podesta. War between the parties began. 
The privileged classes sought the aid of the Emperor and 
were called Ghibelline, while the common people joined 
with the Pope and were called Guelf. These civil wars fill 
the thirteenth century. They ended in the loss of freedom 
and of the republican constitutions, and the cities fell into 
the hands of rulers called tyrants. 

About 1300 the political condition of Italy was somewhat 
as follows : In Piedmont the old feudal system was still in 
force; several great barons, among them the counts of 
Savoy, the ancestors of the present royal house of Italy, were 
contending for supremacy. In Lombardy the cities were 
ruled by tyrants. In Milan the family of the Visconti 
ruled, in Verona the Scaligers, in Padua the Carraresi, in 
Mantua the Gonzaghi, in Ferrara the Estensi. In Tuscany 
the cities were in the throes of civil war, but the end was 
to be the same as in Lombardy. In the states of the 
Church, the cities were about to break away from papal con- 
trol. The long residence of the Popes in Avignon (1309-78) 
permitted the rise of tyrannies in Urbino, Perugia, Rimini, 
and elsewhere, while Bologna became a republic and Rome 
tried several political experiments. Naples was the seat of 
the kingdom of the Angevins, and Sicily had passed into 
the possession of the Aragonese. Genoa and Venice were 
independent republics. While the disunion at this time was 
very great, the five powers which were to divide Italy among 



Italy to the Invasion of Charles VIII 225 

themselves in the fifteenth century were showing signs of 
their coming strength. Their history may be briefly traced 
along these lines : 

Genoa and Venice owed their greatness to their com- Genoa. 
merce. For some time Pisa was a strong rival of Genoa in 
the commerce and control of the western Mediterranean, 
but in the battle of Meloria (1284), just off Pisa, the Geno- 
ese fleet was victorious and the power of Pisa was broken. 
In 1 261 Genoa helped the Greek Emperor regain Constan- 
tinople, and received as her reward the monopoly of the 
trade in the Black Sea, and thus came into conflict with 
Venice, which by the outcome of the fourth crusade had 
gained the ascendency in the east. The war between the 
two cities lasted more than two hundred years, and ended in 
the total defeat of the Genoese in the battle of Chioggia 
(1380). After this Genoa dechned while Venice became 
the mistress of the Mediterranean. 

Since 697 Venice had been ruled by a doge (duke) elected Venice. 
by the people. The tendency in the city, however, was 
toward an oligarchy. Toward the end of the twelfth cen- 
tury the Great Council, consisting of four hundred and 
eighty members, usurped the right to elect the doge. They 
associated with him a small council of six, and for all more 
important matters a council of sixty. In 1297 the oli- 
garchy was completed by the act known as the *' Closing of 
the Great Council," by which this body declared itself to 
be hereditary. In order to check all popular movements 
the Great Council established the Council of Ten with un- 
limited police powers. The bloody work of this Council 
prevented all uprisings of the people and gave the govern- 
ment of the city a stability and durability which were pos- 
sessed by no other in Italy. Venice acquired not only the 
islands of the eastern Mediterranean but also much territory 
on the mainland of the Balkan peninsula. Then she turned 



226 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Milan. 



Florence. 



her arms toward Italy and conquered Treviso, Padua, 
Vicenza, and other places. But her expansion on the main- 
land of Italy during the fifteenth century brought her in 
turn into conflict with Milan. 

In Milan the Ghibelline Visconti overcame the family of 
the Guelf della Torre and entered on a vigorous policy of 
territorial extension. By the year 1350 the Visconti had 
conquered and annexed all Lombardy. Gian Galeazzo 
(i 385-1 402), the ablest of the family, pushed his conquests 
so far to the south that he encroached on the territory of 
Florence. The family of the Visconti died out, however, 
in 1447, and the power in Lombardy was seized by several 
condottieri, as the leaders of the mercenary bands were 
called, who had been in the service of the Visconti and of 
various cities. Every such leader now improved the oppor- 
tunity and made himself master of some city. In Milan the 
power was seized by Francesco Sforza, the most famous of 
all the condottieri. The city engaged him to lead its troops 
against the Venetians, and after securing a victory over them 
he came back to Milan and compelled the people to ac- 
knowledge him as their duke (1450). 

The political history of Florence in the thirteenth and 
fourteenth centuries is so confused by party struggles that we 
cannot follow it here in detail. The Blacks and the Whites, 
the old nobility, the old guilds, the new nobility of wealth, 
and the guilds of the lower orders, all fought for recogni- 
tion and power and added to the chaos of the times. Tak- 
ing advantage of these troubles the Medici rose to power. 
The Medici were a family of bankers that had grown rich 
and now used their wealth to advance their political aspira- 
tions. They saw that the power was really with the com- 
mon people, and so threw in their lot with them. In this 
way the head of the family became the real ruler of the city, 
although he left the constitution intact. All the officials of 



Italy to the Invasion of Charles VIII 22/ 

the city were named by him and obeyed him. Lorenzo the 
Magnificent (1469-92) finally swept away all the old re- 
publican offices and ruled with a Privy Council of Seventy 
of his own nomination. Under the Medici Florence made 
war on her small neighbors and became master of all Tus- 
cany. 

During the residence of the Popes in Avignon Rome suf- Rome, 
fered from the violent struggles between the rival factions 
of her nobility as well as from the riotous conduct of the 
people. The families of the Colonna and the Orsini filled 
the streets with brawls. An uprising of the people in 1347 
made Rienzi Tribune, with full powers to restore order. He 
drove out the turbulent nobles, but became so puffed up over 
his success that the people found him intolerable and exiled 
him. He went to appeal to the Emperor, but was delivered 
to the Pope, who kept him in prison for some time. The 
Pope then determined to recover his pov/er in Rome, and 
sent Rienzi back to the city as his representative (1354). 
His success was of short duration, however, and he lost his 
life in an insurrection. Cardinal Albornoz was then sent 
by the Pope into Italy, and recovered nearly all the towns 
in the papal state. This led the Pope to take up his resi- 
dence in Rome again (1377), although a rival Pope was 
elected, who continued the papal court at Avignon till the 
schism was healed by the Council of Constance (141 7). 

The Papacy, yielding to the character of the times, be- The Papacy, 
came more and more a political power. A Pope of the 
fifteenth century differed very little in character from a 
temporal ruler. The cities in his territory tried to make 
themselves independent, and wars were constant. Nicholas 
V. (1447-55), known as the first of the Renaissance Popes, 
was a great builder, and patron of learning. He collected 
manuscripts and founded the Vatican library. He made 
himself master of the city by sternly putting down the last 



228 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

of the uprisings of the populace (1453). Sixtus IV. (1471- 
84) and Alexander VI. (149 2-1 503), on the other hand, 
degraded their high office and covered it with shame. 
They practised murder almost as a fine art, and their re- 
finements in cruelty and lust have probably never been sur- 
passed. Small wonder that the demand for a reform was 
daily heard. 

Naples. The Angevins lost Sicily to the Aragonese, but held 

Naples till 1435, when Alphonso of Aragon made himself 
master of southern Italy. The rule of the Angevins had 
ruined the kingdom, however, and although Alphonso was 
a model prince, a patron of learning and of the arts, he 
was not able to establish his family in great power. His 
son Ferdinand (1458-94) succeeded him as ruler of Naples, 
but his misrule led to the revival of the Angevin claim, 
which had in the meanwhile reverted to the king of 
France. Louis XI. was too practical to be drawn into. 

Charles VIII. Italian politics, but his incompetent son, Charles VIII. 

14^^^ ^^' (1483-98), was induced by various considerations to in- 
vade Italy. There was, first of all, his claim to Naples ; 
Milan was intriguing against the Aragonese and so urged 
him to come ; Savonarola was calling for a reform in Flor- 
ence and attacking the rule of the Medici, thus opening an 
opportunity in Florence. In 1494 he crossed the Alps 
and began that long and disastrous period of foreign inva- 
sion and domination of Italy which was not ended till the 
present century. 



CHAPTER XVII 

FRANCE, 1 108-1494; ENGLAND, IO70-1485 

The accession of Louis VI. (1108-37, called the Fat) France from 
marks a change in the fortunes of the Capetian House. All Hundred^^ 
but the last years of his life were spent in passing through Years' War. 
his kingdom, punishing the rebellious barons, asserting his 
royal rights, acquiring territory, and, in general, in in- Louis vi., 
creasing the prestige of the royal name. He was a stanch ^^° '^^' 
champion of the Church, and protected the clergy and their 
lands from the violence of the barons. He favored the 
cities, and tried to make travel safe and commerce secure. 
Suger, the able abbot of St. Denis, was his counsellor and 
was of great service to him in the difficult work which he 
had to do. Though he was unable to reduce the great vas- 
sals, he was one of the ablest of the Capetian line, and un- 
til his increasing corpulence made travel impossible, he 
spent his time and strength in the personal supervision of 
the government. He was succeeded by his son, Louis Louis Vii., 
VII. (1137-80), who was simple, credulous, capricious, and ^'^^~ °' 
over-religious. So long as Suger lived, Louis was well 
guided, but he made the mistake of going on a crusade and 
of divorcing his wife, Eleanor, who held all of Aquitaine. 
He intrigued with the sons of Henry II. of England, but 
was unable to prevent the English from obtaining a large 
amount of French territory. 

His son, Philip II., called Augustus (1180-1223), was a Philip II., 
politician of rare ability, but treacherous and unscrupulous. 
He, too, intrigued with the English princes, and thereby se- 

229 



domain. 



230 A SJiort History of Mediceval Europe 

cured the possession of Normandy, Maine, Anjou, and other 
provinces. For some years he waged war on his other great 
vassals and wrung many concessions from them. The bat- 
tle of Bouvines was quite as advantageous for him as for 
Frederick II. of Germany, for whom it was ostensibly 
fought. Philip took no personal part in the persecution 
of the Albigenses, but the crown reaped the benefit of it 
by acquiring their territory. 
The royal The reign of Philip II. was of fundamental importance 

for the growth of the royal power. The king's domain was 
more than doubled by him, and his income correspond- 
ingly increased. For the first time the king was rich. 
Philip II. found the old system of administration insuffi- 
cient. His estates had thus far been managed by a prevot, 
who, in the name of the king, administered justice, collect- 
ed the taxes, and preserved order. Although these prevots 
were the king's officers, there was the tendency, in ac- 
cordance with the character of the age, for them to look 
upon their office as a fief, and hence hereditary. To keep 
them from growing quite away from him, and also to get 
the best returns from his estates, Philip II. created a new 
officer, the baillie. He was put above the prevots, several 
of whom were generally in his bailiwick. He was required 
to hold court every month for the rendering of justice and 
to make a full report of his doings to the king. He was 
especially entrusted with collecting all the money possible 
for the king and delivering it at Paris. The reign of Philip 
II. had resulted in two most important things — the great 
extension of the royal power and the better administration 
of the royal affairs. The hereditary character of the 
crown seemed so well established in his reign that he did 
not think it necessary to secure the election of his son, 
taking it for granted that the crown would pass on to 
him. 



France, 1108-14.Q4.; England, loy 0-148^ 231 

Although Louis VIII. (1223-26) was thirty-six years old Louis Vlii., 
when his father died, he had never had any share in the ^^^^"^ • 
government or any independent income. He followed his 
father's policy in all respects, except that he gave to each 
of his sons the government and income of a certain terri- 
tory, which was called an appanage. While this made the 
position of the princes more dignified, it tended to separate 
lands from the crown at a time when everything possible 
should have been done to consolidate the royal possessions. 

For ten years after the accession of Louis IX. (1226-70), Louis IX., the 
his mother, Blanche of Castile, was regent. Imperious and ^^^ ' '^^ "^°* 
autocratic, she ruled with a strong hand ; and although 
conspired against by almost all the great vassals, she was 
able to add to the royal power. Under her training Louis 
became the most perfect Christian ruler of his day. Few 
men have ever taken Christianity so seriously and followed 
its dictates, even against their own interests, so closely as 
he. His religious conscience was absolute master of him. 
He refused to extend his boundaries at the expense of his 
neighbors, although many opportunities for doing so offered 
themselves. He even restored to England certain territories 
which he thought had been unjustly seized. He was deeply 
distressed by the enmity between the Emperor and the 
Pope, and tried to act as peacemaker between them. His 
reputation for justice made him the arbiter of Europe, and 
the Church expressed her approval of his character by de- 
claring him a saint. 

The reign of Louis IX. is important for various reasons. Reforms. 
He increased the royal domain by the acquisition of several 
large provinces. Up to this time more than eighty of his 
subjects had had the right to coin money, and the money 
coined in a province was the only legal tender there. Louis 
made the royal money legal tender throughout France, and 
issued stringent laws against counterfeiting. He reformed 



232 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

the office of baillie by prescribing that every baiUie should 
take an oath to administer his office faithfully and justly, 
and to preserve local liberties as well as the rights of the 
king ; that he should not receive any money or gift from 
the people in his bailiwick, nor engage in any other busi- 
ness, nor have any interest in his bailiwick except to serve 
the king ; that he should not marry anyone from his dis- 
trict, or surround himself with his relatives, or give them 
any office under him. Every baillie was ordered to hold 
court in person, regularly, and in the appointed places, 
and to make reports to the king of all his doings; and after 
being removed from his office, was to remain in the prov- 
ince for forty days, in order that the opportunity might be 
given to prefer charges against him. 

Around the person of the king there were a large num- 
ber of people of different rank, who formed his court. The 
highest in rank of these were his council. Up to this time 
all this court had helped him in the administration of the 
affairs of government. Louis IX. introduced the principle 
The council of division of labor by dividing this council into three 
?hre?groups. groups and assigning to each a particular kind of work. 
These divisions were the council proper, the officers of the 
treasury, and the parlement. The council retained the 
executive functions of the government. The treasury 
officials had charge of the collection and disbursement of 
all the moneys of the king, while the parlement became the 
highest judicial body in the realm. Previous to this time 
the administration of justice had been made very difficult 
because the king was constantly travelling from one part of 
the kingdom to another. And since his council accom- 
panied him, and all cases must be tried in, or near, his 
presence, all the parties to a case were compelled to follow 
him about ; and often several weeks, or even months, 
would elapse before a case might come to trial. To remedy 



France, 1108-14^4.; England, Toy 0-14.8^ 233 

this, Louis established the parlement in Paris and gave it a 
fixed place of meeting. 

The jurisdiction of the parlement was also extended. The 
The revival of the study of Roman law brought out the ^^^ ^"^^" ' 
imperial principle that the king is the source of all justice. 
The theory arose that the jurisdiction of the nobles was a 
fief held of the king. It followed as a matter of course that 
every one should have the right of appealing to the king in 
case he were not satisfied with the result of his trial, and 
also that the king might call before his court any case that 
he might wish. For various reasons the king wished to 
make the number of these ' ' royal cases ' ' as large as possi- 
ble and so interfered more and more in the baronial courts, 
and brought all the important cases before his own judges. 
Louis forbade the trial by duel and put in its stead the ap- 
peal to a higher court. The parlement, therefore, became 
the court of appeal over all the baronial courts, and the 
king's justice became superior to all baronial justice. 

While Louis was truly religious in accordance with the 
ideas of his age, and defended the Church against all vio- 
lence and injustice, he nevertheless guarded his royal pre- 
rogatives against clerical encroachments. He compelled Louis ix. and 
the Church to contribute its part toward the support of the ^ ^ ^^^^' 
government by the payment of tithes and other taxes. He 
limited, to a certain extent, the judicial power of the bish- 
ops, and subjected a part of the clergy to the civil law. He 
greatly favored the mendicant orders at the expense of the 
clergy, using them as ambassadors, as missi dominici, and 
in many of his highest offices. 

With the accession of Philip III. (1270-85) favorites Philip III., 
make their appearance at the French court, behind whom Favorites at 
the king hides so successfully as to conceal his real charac- *^^^ '^°^^*- 
ter. These favorites were generally of the common people, 
capable, ambitious, and trained in the Roman law, from 



234 A SJiort History of MedicBval Europe 

which fact they were called legistes. They were generally 
hated by the nobility, who regarded them in the light of 
usurpers. Philip III. was drawn into a war with some of 
the kingdoms in Spain, which led to his acquisition of Na- 
varre. He also added to the royal domain several other 
important territories in the south of France. He punished 
his rebellious vassals with great severity, and compelled 
the Church to pay well for the privilege of receiving lega- 
cies. In order to secure immunity from the laws of the 
land, men took the tonsure and were called clergymen, 
who engaged in business or led a wandering or vagabond 
sort of life, many of them being married, and living in all 
respects as laymen. These he deprived of the protection 
of the Church law, and subjected to taxation and other 
state control. 
Philip IV., Under the rule of Philip IV. (1285-1314), called the 

12 5-1314. Handsome, France became the leading power in Europe. 
His favorites furnished him with his policy, and he strove 
to imitate Justinian. The influence of the Roman law at 
his court may be seen from the fact that a large number of 
great questions were settled by the form of trial. Philip 
IV. chose the most opportune times of interfering in the 
affairs of the provinces which were on the eastern frontier, 
and owed allegiance to the German Emperor. Since the 
Emperors were all weak, he was able to extend his boun- 
daries considerably at the expense of the Empire. 

The commanding position of Philip IV. in Europe is 

The Papacy shown by the removal of the Papacy to Avignon, and the 

Avignon. ° control which he exercised over the Popes. Clement V., 

in order to escape from condemning his predecessor, Boni- 

Destruction of face VIII. , delivered the Order of the Templars into the 

emp ars. ],jj^g)g i^^nds. Heavy charges were trumped up against it, 

but the real motive of the king was to secure possession of 

its vast wealth. 



France^ iioS-i^g/j.; England, loyo-i^S^ 235 

In the time of Philip IV. order was introduced into the improvements 
government by the creation of certain new offices, the func- n"enL ^°^^'^"' 
tions of which were prescribed. The various sorts of work 
in the government were differentiated and each sort assigned 
to a particular set of officials. For the personal service of 
the king there was a court called at that time the king's 
'^ Hotel; " the chamberlain, the chaplain, and those who 
had control of the guard and the troops were the most im- 
portant persons of the Hotel. The '' chancellerie " had 
charge of all public affairs. By means of it all intercourse 
between the king and his people was conducted. Within 
the chancellerie there was a college of notaries who drew 
up all public or state documents. The heads of this college 
were called '^ clercs du secret," or private secretaries of the 
king, because they were acquainted with the secrets of the 
king and his council. The third chief division in the gov- 
ernment was called the king's Council, the members of 
which had to take a special oath to the king. They were 
his secret counsellors and deliberated with him all impor- 
tant questions. The States-general ^ were not yet an organic The States- 
part of the government. The attendance upon these, how- genera, 
ever, had in the process of time come to be limited to the 
more powerful nobles and to the abbots and bishops. It 
had been customary for the king to summon them to obtain 
their advice whenever the special situation demanded. In 
1302, when the trouble with the Pope was assuming large 
proportions, the king felt that he must know whether he 
would have the support of all his people if he proceeded to 
extreme measures against the Papacy. He therefore sum- 
moned the States-general and at the same time called on the 
cities each to send two or three representatives to attend 

1 It should be noted that "States-general" correspond to the Parlia- 
ment in England, while in France the name Parlement was given to the 
body of the king's judges. The Parlement in France is a judicial body ; 
in England the Parliament is a legislative body. 



236 A Short History of Mcducval Europe 

the meeting. The king laid before them his plans and 
asked for their judgment. After some deliberation, the 
body signified its approval and promised him the support 
of the whole people. In 1308 a similar meeting of the 
same body was held to discuss the charges against the Tem- 
plars. JNIore than two hundred cities sent their represent- 
atives and again the States -general did nothing but say 
yes to the king's proposals. It is characteristic of the part 
which the cities played in this proceeding that they were 
'' asked by the king to send deputies to hear, receive, ap- 
prove, and do all that might be commanded them by the 
king." Again in 13 14 the war with Flanders was about 
to be renewed and the king's treasury was empty. The 
king, therefore, summoned the States-general and told them 
what he wanted. The States-general did nothing but ex- 
press their submission to the will of the king. This was 
the much written about entrance of the Third Estate into 
the political history of France. French historians never 
tire of exalting its importance. But as a matter of fact, the 
influence of the Third Estate was, and remained, practi- 
cally nothing, till the time of the French Revolution. It 
had no such history and development as the House of Com- 
mons in England. In France the authority of the king 
prevailed, and the Third Estate was simply permitted to 
say yes when it was commanded to do so. 
The parle- The growth of the parlement during this reign was re- 

Sng's^ustice. ^larkable. Ordinary cases arising on the royal domain 
were tried before it, and the number of appeals from all 
parts of the kingdom greatly increased. The absolute su- 
premacy of the king's court and the king's justice over all 
baronial courts and baronial justice was more than ever 
recognized. The right of appeal was made use of to such 
an extent that the king was compelled to empower his 
baillies to decide many cases in order to prevent the par- 



Fra?ice, 1108-14.^4.; England, 1070-148^ 237 

lenient from being overwhelmed with work. By the estab- 
lishment and development of the parlement, feudalism re- 
ceived a heavy blow. 

As the government grew more thoroughly organized, it 
became much more expensive. Louis IX. had always had 
enough income to support the government. Philip IV. 
was always in debt. He made the most strenuous efforts 
to raise money, but even by taxes, seizures, aids, forced Taxation, 
loans, confiscations, persecutions of the Jews, taxation of 
all the foreign merchants in France, taxation of the Church, 
the seizure of the possessions of the Templars, and many 
other questionable means, was not able to keep his treasury 
full. 

Philip IV. was succeeded by his three sons in turn ; 
Louis X. (13 1 4-1 6), Philip V., called the Long (1316- 
22), and Charles IV. (1322-28). They were not able to 
preserve the monarchy in that state to which their prede- 
cessors had brought it. There was a general reaction on 
the part of the nobles against the absolutism of Philip IV., 
and they were able to force from these kings many provin- 
cial charters which restored and safeguarded local feudal 
rights. Louis X. especially made a large number of such 
concessions. 

Philip V. labored hard to strengthen the government 
and centralize the power. He met, however, with the 
most bitter opposition from his barons. All three brothers 
died without male heirs, but since Phihp V., in order to 
justify his seizure of the crown, had prevailed on the Coun- 
cil to declare that the crown could not pass by the female 
hne, the throne was vacant. The nearest male heir was End of the di- 
Philip of Valois, a cousin of the dead king. Edward III. iTn^^e, ac?essk?n 
of England also laid claim to the crown on the ground that °[ ^^. House 
he, being a nephew of the late king Charles IV., was the 1328. 
nearest male heir by the female line. The claims of Ed- 



238 A Short History of Mcdiceval Europe 



England, 1070, 
to the Hun- 
dred Years' 
Wars. 



William the 
Conqueror. 



The Domes- 
day Book. 



William II., 
1087-H00. 



Henry I., 
1100-35, pub- 
lishes a char- 
ter of liberties. 



ward were rejected and Philip of Valois made king. Ed- 
ward soon gave up all pretensions to the throne, came to 
Amiens and did homage to Philip VI. for his feudal hold- 
ings. In 1330 and again in 1331 he acknowledged him- 
self without any reserve as the feudal subject of the king of 
France. 

Norman genius showed itself in the government of Will- 
iam the Conqueror. The name of what was formerly called 
the Witenagemot, composed of all who held land directly 
from the king, was gradually changed to Great Council. 
Both his Norman and his English subjects were trouble- 
some, but he used the one to keep the other in check. In 
the large towns he built fortresses which he garrisoned with 
Norman troops. He kept the English militia ready for 
service. He had made an exact list of the possessions and 
holdings of all his subjects, which was called the Domes- 
day Book, and on the basis of which he levied and collected 
his taxes with great regularity and exactness. His severity 
in punishing all offences, his heavy taxes, and his devasta- 
tion of a large territory to make a game preserve caused 
him to be hated by his people, who did not understand the 
great services he was rendering England. 

The reign of William Rufus (1087-1100), the second 
son of William the Conqueror, was violent and oppressive 
in the extreme. He laid heavy financial burdens on the 
people, and they were not sorry when he met his death 
while hunting in the New Forest. The eldest son of William, 
count Robert, had received the duchy of Normandy, but 
had pawned it in order to go on the first crusade. The 
third son, Henry, was made king of England (1100-35). 
Fearing that his title to the crown was not good, and that 
Robert would probably oppose him, he tried to propitiate 
the people in every possible way. He published a charter 
of liberties which contained concessions to the Church, 



France^ iioS-i^g/j. ; England, loyo-i/f-S^ 239 

the vassals, and the nation at large, and assured all classes 
that they would no longer be subjected to the wrongs and 
exactions which they had suffered from his brother. 

Henry increased his popularity by marrying the daughter 
of the king of Scotland, Matilda, a descendant from the 
old English line of kings. The wisdom of his conduct 
became apparent when Robert returned from the crusade 
and tried to get possession of England. The people stood 
faithfully by Henry. Robert was taken prisoner in battle, 
and Henry seized Normandy also. Henry was the first 
English king to grant charters to towns, thus securing 
them against unjust interference from their feudal lords, as 
well as from excessive taxes and tolls. Henry established 
the institution known as the curia regis, which had con- The curia 
trol of the king's finances, and tried all cases in which the ^^^^^' 
king's tenants-in-chief were concerned. Henry obtained 
an oath from his barons that they would accept his daugh- 
ter Matilda as ruler, but at his death his nephew, Stephen Stephen of 
of Blois (1135-54), came to London and secured his own °'^' " 
election. War ensued between Stephen and Matilda, and 
England suffered much from it till 1153, when it was 
agreed that Stephen should remain king, but should be 
succeeded by Henry, the son of Matilda. 

Henry H. (1154-89) was strong, active, and able, and Henry II., 
had but one thought, namely, to make himself the real mas- ^^^'^' ^' 
ter of England. Both the nobility and the Church were in 
his way, and his reign is famous for his struggles with those 
powers. 

For the purposes of consultation, he called the Great 
Council together often, and compelled many of the small 
feudal holders to attend it. The curia regis was also 
strengthened and its work of rendering justice emphasized. 
In 1 1 66 he called a meeting of the Great Council at Clar- 
endon and published a set of decrees called the Assize of 



240 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

Assize of Ciar- Clarendon. By its terms the old custom of compurgation 
was prohibited, and a new system was introduced. Twelve 
men in every county and four men from each township in 
it were to form a board for the purpose of deciding who 
should be brought to trial — the work of our grand jury. 
Henry revived the custom of sending out itinerant justices, 
who by rendering strict justice in the king's name brought 
the manorial and county courts into disfavor. In 1170 
Henry inquired into the way in which the various barons 
who held the office of sheriff were performing their duties, 
and as the result of the inquiry turned nearly all out and re- 
placed them by men of lower birth, who served from this 
time on as a check on the higher nobility. Henry com- 
muted the military service which his barons owed him to 
the payment of a sum of money (scutage), with which 
he hired mercenaries. He also reorganized the militia, and 
required all the people to come at his call, equipped at 
their own expense and ready to fight. 

The clergy were opposed to Henry's ideas of judicial 
reform because he meant to bring them also under his own 
The Constitu- jurisdiction. In 1 164 he pubhshed the Constitutions of 
endon, 1164^' Clarendon, the purpose of which was to destroy the judicial 
independence of the clergy. *• Every election of bishop 
or abbot was to take place before royal officers, in the king's 
chapel, and with the king's assent. The prelate-elect was 
bound to do homage to the king for his lands before con- 
secration and to hold his lands as a barony from the king 
subject to all feudal burdens of taxation and attendance in 
the king's court. No bishop might leave the realm with- 
out the royal permission. No tenant in chief or royal ser- 
vant might be excommunicated, or their land placed under 
interdict, but by the king's assent. What was new was 
the legislation respecting ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The 
king's court was to decide whether a suit between clerk 



France, 1108-14.^^; England, loyo-i^Sj 241 

and laymen whose nature was disputed belonged to the 
church courts or the king's. A royal officer was to be 
present at all ecclesiastical proceedings in order to confine 
the bishop's court within its own due limits, and the clerk 
once convicted there passed at once under the civil juris- 
diction. An appeal was left firom the Archbishop's court 
to the king's court for defect of justice, but none might 
appeal to the papal court save with the king's consent." 
— Green. 

Thomas Beket as chancellor had been a faithful servant Thomas 
of Henry and had supported him in all his efforts. On ^ ^^' 
being made Archbishop of Canterbury, however, Thomas 
changed his point of view and opposed the king in his at- 
tempts to control the clergy. The king was embittered ; 
and some of his followers understanding his words to mean 
that he desired the death of Thomas, murdered the Arch- 
bishop. Henry disavowed the deed, did penance at the 
tomb of Beket, and offered a part of Ireland, which he 
had just conquered, as a peace offering to the Pope. He 
also withdrew the obnoxious Constitutions of Clarendon, 
whereupon the Pope pardoned him and restored him to his 
favor. 

Henry's last years were made bitter by the revolts of his 
sons. He died in 1189, leaving the crown to Richard I. Richard I. 
(1189-99), who spent only a few months in England, and ^^ ^~^^' 
whose reign is only negatively important, in that his ab- 
sence from the country gave English local independence an 
opportunity to grow. 

John (11 99-1 2 1 6) had much of the ability and all the John, 
vices of the Angevin family. He had great political and dip- 
lomatic insight, but was unscrupulous to the last degree, 
utterly without honor, and would break his royal oath with- 
out the least compunction. He refused his subjects in An- 
gouleme justice, and they appealed to the king of France, 



242 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

who summoned John to appear before him. John, however, 
disregarded the summons, and Phihp II. deposed him and 
overran a large part of his French provinces. The murder of 
his nephew, Arthur, has made John infamous. John refused 
to accept Stephen Langton, who had been appointed Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury by Innocent III. Innocent put Eng- 
land under the interdict and excommunicated John, and 
finally (12 12) even deposed him and offered his crown to 
the king of France, and at the same time John's violence 
and injustice to his people led them to revolt against him. 
Being powerless, John made peace with the Pope and re- 
ceived his crown from him as a fief. The struggle with his 
barons continued until 121 5, when they compelled him to 
The Magna grant the Magna Charta, in which he promised to observe 
Charta, 1215. ^^ ancient laws and customs, to abate all wrongs, and to re- 
quire only the legal feudal dues. The Church was to have 
her liberties restored ; the barons and the people were to be 
subject to no violence. The king agreed neither to pass 
nor to execute any judgment upon anyone till he had been 
tried by his peers. After securing this charter of their lib- 
erties, the barons disbanded. John then broke his oath and 
became more violent than ever toward his subjects, where- 
upon the barons offered the crown to Louis, the son of 
Philip 11. Louis invaded England with some success, but 
at the death of John the English turned to his son, Henry 
III., then only nine years old, and Louis was compelled to 
return to France. 
Henry III., Henry III. (1216-72) was as unscrupulous as his father 

1216-72. j^^^ been. He never refused to take any oath demanded of 

him, but broke it at the first opportunity. He vied with the 
Pope in his demands for money. His son Edmund was ex- 
pected to pay well for the crown of Sicily, and Richard of 
Cornwall was buying the crown of the Empire. In 1257 
the crops were a total failure, but the Pope demanded one- 



France, 1108-i/j.g/}.; England, loyo-i^S^ 243 

third of the income of the year. Being unable to bear these 
burdens longer, the barons came armed to Oxford and 
compelled the king to make certain concessions (1258). 
When the king refused to keep his word, the barons, under 
the leadership of Simon de Montfort, made war on him. In 
1265 Simon called a meeting of the Great Council, or Par- 
liament, as it was now called, in which, besides the barons, 
two citizens from certain towns also sat. Simon had sum- Commoners in 
moned them to be present in order that they might give mJntri265. 
advice in regard to the taxes which could be levied on the 
towns. This is the first appearance of commoners in the 
Parliament and is the beginning of the House of Commons. 
The civil war ended with the death of Simon and the with- 
drawal of Henry from the kingdom, all authority being 
placed in the hands of Prince Edward. 

The reign of Edward I. was marked by the conquest of Edward i., 
Wales (1284) and of Scotland (1J05), although Scotland "^72-1307. 
renewed the war, and in 13 14, by the battle of Bannock- 
burn, recovered her independence. His legislation was for 
the most part good, and tended to increase the power of the 
crown. Edward H. (1307-27) was controlled by favorites, Edward ii., 
and his reign was in every respect a failure. His wife and 
her paramour, Roger Mortimer, made war on him, and in 
1327 the people joined them and deposed him. He was 
murdered a short time afterward in prison, and Edward HI. 
became king under the regency of Mortimer. 

During the Hundred Years' War England was ruled in The Hundred 
turn by Edward HI. (1327-77), Richard H. (1377-99), 
Henry IV. (1399-1412), Henry V. (1413-22), and Henry 

VI. (1422-61). During the same period the rulers of 
France were Philip VI. (1328-50), John (1350-64), 
Charles V. (1364-80), Charles VI. (1380-1422), Charles 

VII. (1422-61). 

The deeper questions at issue in the Hundred Years' War 



244 -^ Short History of Mediceval Europe 

The questions were whether Scotland should remain independent, and 
at issue. whether the king of France should control all of France, or 

whether all of Scotland and France should be subjected to 
the king of England. It had come to be the established 
purpose of England to reduce Scotland to subjection, and 
she already held so large a part of France as to be able to 
prevent the unification of that country. Scotland, on the 
other hand, was determined to be and remain free, and the 
possession of all the French soil had come to be the most 
important question that confronted the king of France. 
The struggle between England and France was sure to come, 
and it could end in but one of two ways : either the king of 
England must conquer the whole country and displace the 
French king, or the king of France must drive out the Eng- 
lish, and reconquer all that territory which the topography 
of the country and the similarity in language and customs 
had marked out as a legitimate object of his ambition. 
Origin of the The Hundred Years' War began in Scotland. In 1331 
^ ^" Edward Balliol laid claim to the crown of Scotland, and 

asked help of Edward III. David Bruce, the other claim- 
ant, fled to France. Philip VI. was trying to extend his 
authority over the Low Countries, and Edward III. received 
some of their political refugees. When Edward III. went 
to Flanders (1338) the people demanded that he assume 
the title of king of France ; and although he had given 
up all claim to the title, he saw the advantages to be de- 
rived from it, and as a kind of war measure, in 1340 he 
declared himself its possessor. In the same year the Eng- 
lish fleet destroyed the French fleet, but otherwise little 
fighting was done till 1346, when Edward won the battle 
Crecy, 1346. of Crecy, and the next year took Calais. A truce was 
then made, which was kept till 1355. In that year Prince 
Edward, known as the Black Prince, ravaged a large part 
of southern France. Near Poitiers his force of eight thou- 



France y iioS-i^g^.; England, ioyo-i^8^ 245 

sand men was attacked by an army of about fifty thousand Poitiers, 1356. 
men, but he was victorious, and even captured king John 
and took him to England. In 1359 Edward made another 
invasion of southern France, but found there such suffering 
and ruin, as the result of his raid of a few years before, 
that he was conscience smitten, and offered to make peace. 
By the terms of the treaty of Bretigny, Edward resigned The peace of 
his claim to the French crown and received several large 13^^!^"^' 
provinces from France. The Black Prince was sent to 
govern Aquitaine, but by his attempt to levy a hearth tax, 
caused an uprising of the people. For a few years the 
English harried many parts of France, but the French re- 
fused to engage in a battle. 

The war practically ceased till the accession of Henry V. Henry v., 
(1413-22). His father, Henry IV., had deposed Richard ntwslhe^ar. 
II. and seized the crown. Henry V. felt that his claim to 
the crown was not secure, and he hoped to make himself 
popular by a successful war in France. He renewed his 
claim to the French crown and invaded France, but at 
Harfleur lost two-thirds of his troops by disease. However, 
with an army of about fifteen thousand men, he met and 
defeated fifty thousand French near Agincourt (141 5). Agincourt, 
Charles VI. was imbecile, and the country divided between ^^^^' 
two parties, the one under the duke of Burgundy, the other 
under the count of Armagnac. The feud between them 
was so bitter that the Burgundians went over to the Eng- 
lish. By the treaty of Troyes (1420) Henry V. was ac- 
knowledged regent of France, and was to be recognized as 
king at the death of Charles VI. 

In 1422 both kings died. Henry VI., though only a Henry vi. of 
child of nine months, was acknowledged in England and of"both coun? 
in all the northern part of France, and the duke of Bed- *"^^' 
ford was made regent. Bedford instituted excellent re- 
forms and governed France well. Charles VIL, the Dau- 



246 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

phin, was recognized south of the Loire. Bedford made 
war on him, and it seemed for a time that the English must 
gain possession of all of France. Some of the French no- 
bles, however, especially the duke of Burgundy, were alien- 
ated from the English cause, and at the same time help 
came from an unexpected quarter. Bedford was besieging 
Orleans (1428) with every prospect of success. 
Jeanne d'Arc. Jeanne d'Arc, a peasant girl, seventeen years old, be- 
lieved herself to have received a commission from God to 
lead her king, Charles VII., to Rheims, secure his corona- 
tion, and drive out the English. She was not the only 
woman in France who thought herself appointed for this 
high work. In those times of excitement and national de- 
pression other women came forward with about the same 
claims. Jeanne was the only one fortunate and capable 
enough to get a hearing. No one at first had any confi' 
dence in her, but since there was no other help possible, 
she was taken before the young king, who determined to 
give her a chance to test her divine calling. She was given 
command of the army, but only a part of her orders were 
obeyed, because some of the things which she commanded 
were manifestly impossible. The real- commanders of the 
army made good use of her presence to fire the enthusiasm 
of the troops to the highest pitch. She led the attack on 
the English before Orleans, and was successful in breaking 
up the siege of the city. The tide turned, and everyone 
was wild with joy and enthusiasm. The belief in her 
miraculous mission made the army irresistible. The Eng- 
lish were driven back, town after town was taken by the 
French, and Charles VII. was soon crowned at Rheims 
(1429). Jeanne continued the struggle, but was taken 
prisoner by the Burgundians and sold to the English. She 
was carried to Rouen, where, after a long trial, she was 
condemned to death on a mixed charge of sorcery, heresy, 



France, iioS-i^g^; England, loy 0-14.8^ 247 

apostasy, and other crimes, which only the Middle Age 
could invent. Her youth, her simplicity, her nobleness 
availed nothing ; she was burned at the stake (May, 143 1). 

But even dead she was still a power in France. Her 
name gave an impetus and courage to her countrymen 
which was destined to result in driving out the English 
entirely. Bedford found the current in France setting 
stronger and stronger against the English. At his death 
(1435) the duke of Burgundy deserted the English cause 
and became the subject of Charles VII. For some years 
the war was continued, but at length (1454) the EngHsh The English 
had been driven out of every place in France except Calais. 1454?" °^ ' 
The Hundred Years' War was over. The final result of it 
was the unification of France. By it both England and 
France had been profoundly influenced, and at its close 
they were ready to enter upon a new period of their devel- 
opment. 

The constitutional changes in England during the Hun- Constitutional 
dred Years' War were important. In 1322 Edward II. Eifgilnd" 
declared that in future all matters pertaining to the king- 
dom should be settled by a Parliament, in which should be 
represented the clergy and barons and the common people. 
He also abolished certain feudal taxes, and relied on grants 
of money by the Parliament. In 1341 the commoners 
were separated from the lords, and met apart for the pur- 
pose of deliberation. In 1376 the Parliament claimed and 
exercised the right to try members of the king's council 
for embezzlement. 

The fourteenth century was marked by a movement Social 
among the people which showed itself in many ways. In 
1348 a plague spread over all Europe, which resulted in 
the death of perhaps half of the population. Whole dis- 
tricts in England were almost depopulated. This, of 
course, made the demand for the service of free laborers 



movements. 



248 A Short History of McdicBval Europe 

much greater. The natural effect was that all workmen 
demanded far larger wages than they had ever before re- 
ceived. The English sense of the binding force of custom 
and tradition was thereby deeply offended, especially since 
at the same time the expense of farming was increased. In 
1349 both Houses of Parliament met and passed a statute 
that the same wages should be paid as were customary be- 
fore the plague, and made it a crime for anyone to de- 
mand more. The immediate effect of this measure was to 
increase the bitterness already existing between the classes, 
but as far as prohibiting the demand of higher wages went, 
it was without avail. The work must be done, and the 
peasants refused to do it without an increase in pay. This 
led the landlords to try to reduce the free laborers to vil- 
lainage again. In many cases the villain had secured his 
freedom by paying a small sum of money to his landlord. 
Since the service had become so much more valuable, the 
landlords now declared that the contract into which they 
had entered was unfair, and they refused to accept the sum of 
money agreed upon in place of service. This would have 
solved the difficulty and the landlords would have thereby 
acquired a sufficient amount of labor to till their estates, 
but its injustice caused a revolt. Many of Wyclif's preach- 
ers espoused the cause of the peasants, and there arose be- 
sides a large number of peasants who went about inciting 
the people to resistance. There was an uprising all over 
England. The property of the nobility was attacked, their 
game and fish preserves destroyed, the records of the vil- 
lains' dues were burnt, and even many people put to death. 
Wat Tyler's An army of more than 100,000, led by Wat Tyler, Jack 
1381. ' Straw, and John Ball, marched upon London, expecting 

to appeal to the king to support them against the nobility. 
They got into London and put many to death, among 
them the lawyers of the new Inn of the Temple and the 



France, iioS-i^g/j.; England, 10^0-14.85 249 

Archbishop of Canterbury, who had proposed many of the 
obnoxious measures in Parliament. Richard 11. , still a mere 
boy, met them and promised to abolish villainage, whereupon 
the majority of the peasants returned home. About 30,000 
of them, however, were bent on mischief, and could not be 
dispersed until an army attacked and scattered them. The 
revolt was followed by severe punishments. The leaders 
were put to death, as well as many who had taken part in 
it. All England was united against the insurgents, and 
the lot of the peasants became harder than ever before. 

Tliis peasants' revolt had a bad effect on a great move- 
ment which had for its author John Wyclif. By an inde- Wyclif. 
pendent study of the Bible he had come to differ radically 
from the Church in many points. He attacked the author- 
ity of the Pope and the doctrine of transubstantiation ; 
later even the mass. At first he had striven against only 
the abuses in the Church — the worldly clergy, the heavy 
ecclesiastical taxes, the sale of indulgences and pardons, 
pilgrimages, the use of relics, and the worship of saints ; 
but opposition developed his ideas until he broke out into 
open hostility to the Church in almost everything. He 
based all his doctrines directly on his interpretation of the 
Bible. He sent out many preachers to carry his teaching 
to the people, and they succeeded in gaining many adher- 
ents. His sympathies were, for the most part, with the 
common people, and his cry for reform was taken up by 
them. It was due in part to his agitation that the peasants' 
revolt took place. The violence committed on that occa- 
sion frightened the nobility and even the common people, 
and Wyclifs movement thus fell into disrepute. His 
preachers, called the Lollards, or idle babblers, were re- 
pressed and persecuted. He himself was bitterly opposed 
by the clergy, but escaped personal violence, though he 
was compelled, however, to leave Oxford and retire to his 



250 A Short History of MedicBval Europe 

home at Lutterworth, where he spent the last years of his 
hfe in revising an earher translation of the Bible. He was 
ordered to appear at Rome to defend himself, when death 
overtook him. Political considerations, the alliance be- 
tween Henry V. and the Papacy, led to the repeated per- 
secutions of his followers, and so all of Wyclifs efforts at 
reform came to nothing. But the cry for the reform of the 
Church was never again hushed in Europe. Through one 
of his pupils, John Huss of Prague, his teachings were car- 
ried to Bohemia, where they also caused a great uprising. 

During the last years of his life Henry VI. suffered from 
repeated attacks of insanity, and these directly caused the 

The Wars of civil Strife known, from the badges of the opposing factions, 
the Roses 

1455-85. ' as the Wars of the Roses. This was a struggle between the 
great houses of England, at first for the control of the king, 
and later for the possession of the crown. The duke of York 
drove Henry VI. out of England in 146 1 and had himself 
crowned as Edward IV. (1461-83). For ten years the con- 
test continued, and ended only with the death of Henry VI. 
Edward IV. then felt himself secure on the throne, and 
found leisure to begin a war in connection with Charles the 
Bold of Burgundy against Louis XI. of France. He hoped 
to prevent the extension of French power in the Nether- 
lands, but was unable to do so. His death put his son, 
Edward V., a boy of twelve years, on the throne. Both 
Edward V. and his younger brother, the duke of York, 
were put into the Tower by their uncle, Richard, duke of 
Gloucester, who had been made protector ; and the rela- 
tives of their mother, who had been exercising great influ- 
ence up to this time, were either imprisoned or put to 
death. Fearing that if the young king were once crowned 
and acknowledged, his own life would be in danger, Rich- 
ard, by the most shameless charges against the honor of his 
own mother, secured the recognition of himself as king. 



France, iioS-i^-g^; England, 1 070-148^ 251 

He was crowned as Richard III. (1483). He met with Richard III., 
some opposition, but was able to resist it successfully. He 
felt, however, that he was not safe so long as the young 
Edward V. and his brother lived, and they were accord- 
ingly put to death in the Tower by Richard's orders. This 
crime cost him his popularity. The duke of Richmond, 
another descendant of Edward HI., was encouraged to in- 
vade England, and in the battle of Bosworth (1485) Rich- 
ard in. was slain, and the duke of Richmond was made 
king under the title of Henry VII. For nearly thirty years Henry vii., 
England had suffered terribly by these civil wars, and the brings peace, 
people, worn out, were willing to do anything or to submit 
to anything if only they might have peace. It was not so 
much that the great houses were destroyed ; it was rather 
the horror that was everywhere felt for civil war that now 
opened the way for the Tudor House, of which Henry VII. 
was the head, to become practically absolute, and rule with- 
out regard to constitution or Parliament. The people felt 
that nothing could be worse than civil war, and they were 
glad to have a strong king, because they believed that such 
a ruler alone was able to preserve peace and order. 

The Renaissance was just beginning to be felt in Eng- The Renais- 
land at this time. Richard III. was himself one of the f^nd.^ '" "^' 
most prominent supporters of the new learning. Before he 
saw the way open to the throne he had been especially 
active in this direction. It was unfortunate both for him 
and for the cause of learning that the temptation to seize the 
crown was put in his way. But even as king he was active 
along the same line. He passed a law forbidding any hin- 
drance or injury to anyone who was engaged in importing 
or selling books in the kingdom. Learning suddenly be- 
came with many a passion. The movement was still in its 
swaddling-clothes, to be sure, but the foundation was being 
laid for the glorious achievements of the sixteenth century. 



252 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



A standing 
army in 
France. 



Louis XL, 
1461-83. 



The unifica- 
tion of France. 



To return to France, the last years of Charles VII. were 
not so fortunate as the first. The victories which Jeanne 
d'Arc won for him secured him the title of the Victorious. 
He established a standing army and became independent of 
his vassals for military service. But he quarrelled with his 
son Louis, who thereupon intrigued against him and made 
alliances with his enemies. The king also fell under the 
control of bad ministers, and his court was vitiated by the 
presence of infamous women. 

Louis XI. (1461-83) was, from the point of view of the 
kingship, one of the most successful of all French kings, 
but he has won the reputation of being the most cruel, 
crafty, and unprincipled of men. He was a master in the 
arts of duplicity and deception. His settled policy looked 
toward the acquisition of territory and the strengthen- 
ing of the royal power. Several of the great appanages 
were added to the royal domain during his reign, and two 
most important acquisitions were made on the eastern fron- 
tier. In 1477, ^t the death of Charles the Bold, duke of 
Burgundy, Louis XL seized his duchy, and in 1481 he got 
possession of Provence. In this way the eastern boundary 
of France was much extended. Louis XL established pro- 
vincial parlements, thereby dividing and weakening the 
body that was most able to hinder the growth of the royal 
power. His successor, Charles VIII. (1483-98), increased 
his possessions by the addition of Brittany (149 1), which 
practically completed the unification of France. The power 
of the king was rapidly increasing, while that of the feu- 
dal nobility was practically broken. The king was ruler in 
fact as well as in name. With the whole of France in his 
hands the way was open for Charles VIII. to look abroad. 
His invasion of Italy (1494) marks the beginning of the 
era of conquest in French history. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE LESSER COUNTRIES OF EUROPE TO 1500 

In this chapter it is proposed to give, in the briefest 
manner possible, a bird's-eye view of those parts of Europe 
which played no great role in the Middle Age, but were 
nevertheless engaged in the slow process of political 
development. 

In the northern part of Spain there were gradually Spain, 
formed certain principalities, such as the kingdoms of Leon, 
Castile, Aragon, and Navarre, and the counties of Catalonia 
and Portugal. About 1040 Leon and Castile were united, 
and a hundred years later Aragon and Catalonia were made 
one. The county of Portugal was established about 1095. 
It was practically independent and in 1139 became a king- 
dom. About 1250 Navarre established relations with 
France, and for a long time had little in common with the 
rest of the peninsula. 

When the Ommiad KhaHfate came to an end (103 1), 
five large Mohammedan kingdoms were established (Toledo, 
Seville, Cordova, Saragossa, and Badajoz), besides a great 
many little independent principalities. The struggle between 
these and the small Christian states on the north was con- 
stantly carried on during the Middle Age, and from them 
the Christians slowly won territory after territory. In 1086 
the Mohammedans called on the Almoravides of northwest 
Africa for help. Their response resulted in the destruction 
of the Christian army, indeed, but also in the conquest of 
the Spanish emirs, and the establishment of the Almoravides 

253 



254 ^ Short History of McdicBval Europe 



Fall of the 
Moors, 1492. 



Portugal. 



as rulers of Mohammedan Spain. About fifty years later 
(1145) another sect having risen to power in Africa, the 
Almohades crossed the strait and in a few years defeated 
the Almoravides and united all Mohammedan Spain under 
themselves. Their rule lasted to 121 2. Before the end 
of the thirteenth century all of Spain was again in the 
hands of the Christians except the southeastern part, which 
formed a principality known as Granada. This remained 
Mohammedan until 1492, when Ferdinand and Isabella 
conquered it. 

Meanwhile Castile and Aragon had become the most 
powerful states, and gradually absorbed all the others. 
Sicily and Sardinia were added to Aragon during the last 
years of the thirteenth century. The consolidation of the 
two leading Spanish states was accomplished (1474) by the 
marriage of Isabella of Castile to Ferdinand of Aragon. 
The union of Spain was soon after completed and she was 
prepared to take her place among the leading states of 
Europe. 

In 1095, when king Alphonso gave the county of Portu- 
gal to his son-in-law, Henry of Burgundy, it consisted of 
only the small territory between the Douro and Minho 
rivers. In 11 39, after a great victory over the Moors, the 
count was made a king, and from that time on the struggle 
with the Mohammedans for territory went steadily forward. 
In about one hundred years the kingdom was extended to 
nearly its present boundaries. The Portuguese, turning 
their attention also to the sea, became the most daring sailors 
and explorers in the world. The Madeira and the Azore 
Islands were taken and added to their possessions. In the 
fifteenth century their voyages of discovery were directed 
by Prince Henry, known as '' the Navigator." Vasco da 
Gama, a Portuguese, discovered a route around the Cape of 
Good Hope to the East Indies (1498), thereby increasing 



Belgium. 



The Lesser Countries of Europe to ijoo 255 

Portuguese commerce and enabling Portugal to get posses- 
sion of many islands, and diminishing the amount of trade 
between the east and west, which had been carried on by- 
way of the eastern Mediterranean, whose great ports now 
began to lose their importance. Portugal's activity on the 
sea was so great that she was enabled to compete with the 
larger countries of Europe for the control of the new world 
which was just then being discovered and opened up. 

The territory lying about the mouth of the Rhine (Hoi- Holland and 
land and Belgium) was slow in attaining a complete inde- 
pendence and a separate national existence. It was a part 
of the Empire of Karl the Great, and in the division of 843 
(Verdun) was given to Lothar. Nearly all the territory 
west of the Rhine from Basel to the North Sea was called 
Lotharingia, and came to be divided into two parts, upper 
and lower. The latter comprised all the territory north of 
the Moselle river, including, therefore, nearly all of mod- 
ern Belgium and Holland. Following the feudal tendency 
Lotharingia broke up into several fiefs, most of which suc- 
ceeded in rendering themselves practically free from for- 
eign control. Among these feudal principalities were the 
counties of Namur, Hainault, Luxemburg, Holland, Gel- 
derland, and others ; the episcopal sees of Liege, Cambrai, 
and Utrecht ; and the duchies of Brabant and Limburg. 
To the west of these lay the county of Flanders, which had 
been able to break away from the kingdom of France and 
become practically independent. The growth and power 
of the cities in all this territory were remarkable. Their 
inhabitants became rich, and early took part in the com- 
munal revolt. They naturally wished to be free from Ger- 
many and France, one or the other of which had sovereign 
claims all over this land, and hence were the allies of Eng- 
land in the Hundred Years' War. Their progress in civ- 
ilization was rapid, and during this period they laid the 



256 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

foundation of the strength which they were to develop in 
the sixteenth century in their tremendous struggle with 
Spain. 

During the last years of the fourteenth century and the 
first of the fifteenth the French dukes of Burgundy got pos- 
session by marriage and conquest of almost all of these little 
independent territories after they had seriously weakened 
themselves by making war on each other. By the marriage 
of Mary of Burgundy, the daughter of Charles the Bold, 
with Maximilian of Austria (1477), afterward Emperor, the 
Netherlands came into the possession of the House of 
Hapsburg. The Emperor, Charles V. (1519-55), inher- 
ited them from his grandmother, Mary of Burgundy, and 
gave them to his son, Philip II. of Spain. Against him 
and his misrule they revolted and carried on an heroic war 
for eighty years. The history of this revolt belongs, how- 
ever, to another period. 

The conquests and settlements of the Norsemen have 
already been described. In the ninth and tenth centuries 
Denmark, Denmark was united into one kingdom. One of the great- 
Svveden.' '^" ^st of its sovereigns was Knut, whose conquest and govern- 
ment of England have already been recounted. The king- 
dom of Denmark had a period of considerable power, 
followed by another of decadence. Sweden also became a 
kingdom in the ninth and tenth centuries. Christianity 
was thoroughly established there by about 1050. Norway 
was not united until about the year 1000. For some cen- 
turies the history of these countries is but a confused succes- 
sion of wars and civil strife. 

In 1363 Waldemar Atterdag, king of Denmark, married 
his daughter Margaret to King Haco VI. This Haco was 
the son of Magnus Smek, who had become king of both 
Norway and Sweden, and who, after reigning for several 
years, had been compelled by the nobility to surrender the 



TJie Lesser Countries of Europe to i^oo 257 

crown of Sweden to his eldest son, Eric, and that of Nor- 
way to another son, the Haco VI. mentioned above. After 
a long civil war Haco was the only representative of his 
family left alive, but the Swedes refused to accept him as 
their king, and elected Albert of Mecklenburg. In 1365 
Waldemar Atterdag died, and Margaret secured the crown 
of Denmark for her son Olaf. Her husband died 1380, 
and Margaret took possession of Norway also for Olaf. 
Denmark and Norway were, therefore, united under one 
ruler. Although Olaf was king in the two countries, his 
mother Margaret was the real ruler. At his death (1387) 
she was elected queen in Norway and regent in Denmark. 
Since 1380 she had also assumed the title of queen of Swe- 
den, although Albert of Mecklenburg had been chosen its 
king in 1365. Margaret now began a war on him to make 
good her claims to the crown of Sweden, and was in the 
end victorious. In 1396 she had one of her nephews, 
Eric, crowned king of the three countries, and in 1397, by 
the union of Calmar, they were firmly united. Theoreti- 
cally, the union of Calmar put the three countries on the 
same plane. In reality, Denmark was the leading power 
and dominated the other two. Sweden made several at- 
tempts to revolt and gain her independence, but without 
success, till the appearance of Gustavus Vasa (1523). Nor- 
way, however, remained united to Denmark till 18 14. 

The victory of Emperor Otto I. over the Hungarians on Hungary, 
the Lech (955) put an end to their invasions of the west. 
During the tenth century Christianity was introduced 
among them from Germany and Constantinople. In the 
year 1000 their duke, Stephen, sent to Rome to ask for the 
establishment of an independent Hungarian archbishopric 
at Gran, and also that he himself be made king. Both 
petitions were granted, and he became the subject of the 
Pope. In the time of Henry III., in consequence of a 



258 A Short History of Mcdiceval Etirope 

heathen reaction, the Christian king, Peter, was driven 
out. Henry III. restored him by force of arms and made 
him his vassal, a relation little more than nominal, because 
the German Emperors were so taken up with their prob- 
lems in the west that they had no time to attend to Hun- 
gary. Croatia was added to Hungary (1091), although 
afterward lost for a short time. German influence was felt 
all along the western frontier, and especially through the 
Saxon immigrants, who were invited at various times to 
settle in different parts of Hungary, more particularly in 
the southeast districts now known as Siebenbuergen (Tran- 
sylvania). The country suffered terribly under the inva- 
sion of the Mongols (from 1241 on), but the devastated 
countries were repeopled with Germans. The family of 
Stephen (the Arpad dynasty) held the throne till 1301, 
when it became extinct, and the crown went to an Ange- 
vin of the French family of Charles of Anjou, who had es- 
tablished himself as king of Sicily and Naples. After the 
failure of this dynasty (1437) the crown was fought over 
for nearly one hundred years. The country was gradually 
weakened by this strife, and at the same time the Turks 
invaded it. At the battle of Mohacs (1526) Solyman II. 
was able to destroy the Hungarian army, and to get pos- 
session of a large part of the country, which he held for 
nearly one hundred and fifty years. The rest of Hungary 
passed into the hands of the Hapsburgs and was added to 
Austria, but always enjoyed a measure of independence. 

In consequence of the efforts of Otto I. to extend Chris- 
tianity, and, at the same time, German influence to the 
east, several bishoprics (Merseburg, Zeitz, Meissen, Havel- 
berg, Brandenburg) were established under the Archbishop 
of Magdeburg. Their bishops were the missionaries to the 
Poland. Slavs. Duke Mieczislav of Poland did homage to Otto I. 

and received the rite of baptism, Christianity sprea4 



The Lesser Countries of Etirope to i^oo 259 

among the Poles, but the process of Germanizing them 
was checked by the estabhshment of Gnesen as an arch- 
bishopric (1000) directly under the Pope. This secured 
Poland an independent ecclesiastical development, and also 
the preservation of its nationality. Duke Boleslav I. first 
took the title of king. In the eleventh century Poland con- 
sisted of the territory on both sides of the river Warthe. 
Pomerania was conquered in the next century, and thus 
Poland acquired a seaboard. The Mongols in the thir- 
teenth century ravaged almost the whole of the country. 
By the marriage of a Polish princess with the prince Ja- 
gello of Lithuania Poland acquired a new dynasty and all 
the territory of the Dnieper and Dniester rivers. By some 
victories over the German Order, established since the 
thirteenth century on the Baltic, her boundaries were also 
extended on the north till, at this time, her territory 
reached from the Baltic to the Black Sea. German influ- 
ence was strong in many parts of Poland, because of the 
large number of German colonists who settled there. At 
the end of the Middle Age Poland seemed a powerful state 
and possessed of great possibilities. The nobility, how- 
ever, was omnipotent, and the common people oppressed 
with too great burdens. The dynasty of Jagello died out 
in 1572, and the crown became elective. The quarrels 
that arose over the recurring royal election were to be the 
cause of Poland's destruction. She lost- her sea-coast, and 
having no good natural boundaries, could not resist dis- 
memberment. 

The settlements of the Norsemen at Novgorod and Kiev, 
and the dynasty established by them, have already been 
spoken of. These settlements were united about 900 a.d., 
and shortly afterward were Christianized from Constanti- 
nople. The political chaos of the next centuries was very 
great. The Mongols established themselves north of the 



26o A Short History of MedicEval Europe 



Russia. 



The Greek 
Empire. 



Black Sea, and compelled all the principalities of Russia to 
pay tribute. A large part of Russia continued subject to 
them till the end of the fifteenth century, when Ivan III. 
threw off their yoke. He also reduced all the independent 
principalities and took the title of Czar. He built the 
royal palace at Moscow (the Kremlin), and laid the foun- 
dation for the growth of Russia in the next centuries. 

The Greek Empire was engaged in constant struggle 
with the Mohammedans. The Seldjuk Turks, as we have 
seen, conquered nearly all the imperial possessions in Asia. 
In spite of all the efforts that were made about the time of 
the crusades to drive them out of Asia Minor, they kept a 
firm hold upon a part of it. The Osman Turks came from 
central Asia about the middle of the fourteenth century and 
began a brilliant career of conquest, in which they en- 
croached steadily on the territory of the Empire, conquered 
all the Balkan Peninsula, and extended their sway far north 
beyond the Danube. The fall of Constantinople (1453) 
marks the end of the Byzantine Empire. While Moham- 
medanism was being utterly driven out of Spain, it was 
firmly establishing itself on the Balkan Peninsula, from 
which vantage ground it was yet to threaten some of the 
Christian states of Europe. 



CHAPTER XIX 

GERMANY, I254-1493 

Anarchy prevailed in Germany during the great inter- The Great 
regniim (1254-73). The great princes made use of the I254-7?"''"'' 
opportunity to seize the crown lands and to make themselves 
strong at the expense of the weaker nobles. But in spite of 
the violence of the times, owing to the spirit of self-help 
which the cities exhibited, as shown in the Rhenish league, 
industry and commerce increased. 

The seven princes who from this time have the sole right 
to elect the Emperor, because they were afraid the new Em- 
peror would make them disgorge what they had unjustly 
seized, were in no hurry to end the interregnum. Finally, 
the Pope told them that if they did not elect an Emperor, 
he himself would appoint one. They accordingly got to- 
gether and chose Rudolf, count of Hapsburg, who they Rudolf, 
thought would not be strong enough to interfere with them burg! Emp^e^-' 
in any way. Rudolf had the good sense to see that he could °^' 1273-92. 
do nothing in Italy and very little in Germany, so he 
wisely exerted himself in trying to strengthen his family by 
acquiring as much territory as possible. Ottokar, king of 
Bohemia, resisted him. Rudolf was victorious over him and 
confiscated his possessions (1278), retaining a large part of 
them for his own family. In this way the Hapsburgs be- 
came possessed of Austria, and Vienna was made their resi- 
dence. After thus looking after the interests of his family, 
Rudolf turned his attention to the Empire, restored peace, 
and administered justice with a firm hand. 

261 



262 A Short History of Mcdiceval Europe 



Adolf of 
Nassau, 
1292-98. 



Albrccht I. 
1298-1308. 



Henry VII. of 

Luxemburg, 

1308-13. 



Ludwig of 
Bavaria, 
1313-47- 
Frederick the 
Fair. 



At the death of Rudolf the electors refused to choose his 
son, lest the Hapsburgs should become too strong. Adolf 
of Nassau (1292-98) was elected, but was soon deserted be- 
cause he also wished to gain territory at the expense of the 
Empire. The electors deposed him and set up Albrecht I. 
(1298-1308), the son of Rudolf I. Albrecht I. continued 
the policy of his father and made friends with the cities in 
order to have their aid against the nobles. The story of 
William Tell and the efforts of the Swiss to preserve their 
freedom is laid in his reign but has no foundation in fact. 

Henry VII. of Luxemburg (1308-13) succeeded Al- 
brecht, and by marrying the widowed queen of Bohemia to 
his son, secured the possession in his family of that king- 
dom. Forgetting the lessons which his predecessors had 
learned, Henry VII. allowed himself to be persuaded to 
go to Italy in the vain hope of reestablishing order there. 
He received both the Lombard and imperial crowns, but 
died suddenly near Pisa without accomplishing anything. 
A disputed election followed. The Luxemburg party made 
Ludwig of Bavaria Emperor, while the Hapsburgs elected 
one of their own number, Frederick the Fair. A civil war 
ensued which ended in the victory of the Luxemburgs. 
Ludwig was acknowledged Emperor, but Frederick was to be 
his successor, with the title of King of the Romans. He 
was also to act as regent in the absence of the Emperor. 
Ludwig then went to Italy, but was able to do nothing 
toward a settlement of the disturbances in that unfortunate 
country. He deeply offended the Pope by receiving the 
imperial crown from a layman, the head of the Roman 
Commune. A bitter struggle ensued between Pope and 
Emperor, in which the claims of both to universal dominion 
were renewed. The Pope declared Ludwig deposed, and 
claimed the right to act as Emperor until another Emperor 
should be elected. In answer to this the electors met at 



Germany^ 12^4.-1^^^ 



'■6i 



1347-78. 



The Golden 
Bull, 1356. 



Rhense (1338), and asserted that they alone were competent Rhensc, 1338. 
to elect an Emperor, nor did their choice need the con- 
firmation of the Pope. 

Ludwig spent the last years of his life in trying to secure 
property for his family. This turned the electors against 
him and involved him in a war with Charles of Bohemia, 
who was set up as a rival king, a struggle brought to an end 
only by the death of Ludwig (1347). Charles was every- 
where recognized as his successor. As king of Bohemia, 
Charles IV. deserved well of his country. He acquired Charles IV., 
much new territory, getting possession of Brandenburg, 
Silesia, and Moravia. For his capital city, Prague, he had 
a special fondness. He established the first German uni- 
versity there (1348) and surrounded himself with the best 
artists of his time (Prague School of Painting). In 1356 he 
published the Golden Bull, by the terms of which the im- 
perial relations of king and electors were settled. Charles 
made two journeys into Italy, but succeeded only in getting 
himself laughed at by the Italians, who had no regard for so 
insignificant an Emperor. He renewed the imperial claim 
to Burgundy by having himself crowned king of that coun- 
try. But this was an empty form. Burgundy was already 
hopelessly broken into independent principalities, event- 
ually to be absorbed by the expanding kingdom of France. 
Charles IV. was succeeded by his son Wenzel (1378-1400), 
but he was so incapable and became so debauched that he 
was deposed. 

The fourteenth century witnessed two things important in 
the further development of Germany : the defence of their 
liberties by the Swiss, and the formation of the league of 
the cities. 

The history of the origin of Switzerland takes us back to Origin of 
the last Hohenstaufen. During the reign of Frederick II., 
the two forest cantons of Uri and Schwyz had acquired let- 



\^''enzel, 
1378-1400. 



264 A Short History of Mcdiceval Europe 

ters-patent from the Emperor, by which they were freed 
from the sovereignty of the counts of Hapsburg, whose ter- 
ritory lay in that part of Germany (southern Suabia). In 
1 29 1 representatives from these two cantons met with some 
men of Unterwalden, where the Hapsburgs still had seign- 
iorial rights, and swore to protect each other as confederates 
(Eidgenossen) against every attack upon their liberties. 
This is the beginning of the Swiss confederation. These sim- 
ple, hardy peasants, neatherds, and foresters, who, in their 
isolated mountain homes, had preserved much of the old 
Teutonic vigor, and even many of the old Teutonic institu- 
tions, had never been assimilated to the feudal system ; and 
now that it began to irritate them with restrictions on their 
freedom, they resolved to shake it off. The fact that their 
feudal lords, the Hapsburgs, had risen to the Empire did 
not frighten them from their resolution. They even vent- 
ured upon encroachments of the neighboring territory. 
This was more than Hapsburg pride and patience would sub- 
mit to, and Leopold, brother of Frederick the Fair, invaded 
their territory with the flower of Austrian chivalry to visit 
them with condign punishment. At Morgarten (13 15) the 
Confederates suddenly fell upon Leopold, and his feudal 
armament was annihilated by bands of low-born peasants, 
equipped with axes and pitchforks. It was a spectacle new 
and surprising to the world, prophetic of the passing of 
knighthood. Owing to this success of the confedera- 
tion new adherents gradually poured in, until by the mid- 
dle of the century, Zurich and Bern having joined their lot 
to their neighbors', the confederation embraced the so-called 
eight old cantons (Orte). It was repeatedly called upon to 
defend itself against the Hapsburgs and their feudal allies of 
Suabia, but with the battle of Sempach (1386), won over 
another Leopold, it raised itself beyond danger from prince- 
ly authority. This battle was, in its character of peasant 



Germany, J2^^-i^gj 265 

versus baron, a repetition of Morgarten, and the touching 
story of Arnold of Winkelried, who is said to have made 
the first breach in the ranks of the enemy by gathering to 
his breast as many spears as he could grasp, truthfully illus- 
trates the style of manhood destined in the new social order 
to supersede the knight. 

The cities in Germany were of two kinds : imperial cities 
(Reichsstaedte), subject to the Emperor only, and seigniorial 
cities (Landesstaedte), subject to the princes. ^ Both 
classes of cities had gradually purchased a great number of 
privileges, so that by this time they governed themselves The cities : 
like so many free republics. The power was usually in the ment^^^^'^^" 
hands of a few wealthy and ancient families (Patriciate). 
P'rom among these were elected the burgomaster and the 
assisting council (Rath), who together formed the magis- 
tracy. The increasing industrial population was divided 
into guilds (Zuenfte), and these, induced by the conscious- 
ness of their strength, were beginning, during the four- 
teenth century, to aspire to a share in the government. 

For the development of the cities and their commerce, 
peace and security were necessary, and since the Empire 
was weak, they banded together for mutual protection. In 
1254 the cities of the lower Rhine formed a league, and in 
1344 the cities of southern and southwestern Germany 
made the famous Suabian League. Fearing that this league The Suabian 
would become all-powerful, the princes attacked it at Doef- ^^S^e, 1344- 
fingen (1388) and won a victory over it. The cities were 
forbidden to form such leagues in the future, and the 
princes supposed they had made an end of their foe. The 
cities, however, recovered from the blow and increased their 
power and importance. Most famous of all such leagues 
was the Hanse, an organization which included all the cities The Hanse. 

1 Compare with these two classes of cities the communes and the villes 
de bourgeoisie in France, Chapter XVI. 



266 A S J tort History of Mediceval Europe 

in the Baltic provinces, besides having its outposts in sev- 
eral other countries. Beginning in a small way in the 
thirteenth century, the Hanse steadily grew until it em- 
braced about eighty-five cities, monopolized the trade, and 
practically ruled northwestern Europe. From 1350 to 
1500 the league was at the height of its power. 
Rupert, -^t ^^ death of Emperor Rupert (1400-10) there was 

sl°?sniund ^ disputed election, but Sigismund was finally recognized 
1410-37. as Emperor (1410-37). His efforts to reform the Church 

led to the calling of the Council at Constance, which 
condemned Huss to be burned for his heresy, and ended 
the schism by deposing the three Popes who were strug- 
gling for reelection, and electing Martin V. In 141 5 
Sigismund, in order to pay off his indebtedness to Freder- 
The Hohen- ick of HohenzoUern, gave him the mark of Brandenburg. 
B°rSenburgf ^X ^^^ wise government, Frederick reestablished order and 
^415- made himself master of the territory. The power and pos- 

sessions of his successors steadily grew, till in 1701 the 
mark was made into the kingdom of Prussia, in our day the 
leading power in Germany. 
The revolt in The burning of Huss led to a national revolt in Bohemia. 
That country was inhabited by Slavs, but there were many 
Germans there also. There was much opposition between 
the two races, and when the national hero, Huss, was 
burned by the German Emperor, the Bohemian opposition 
to everything German was quickened into the most bitter 
hostility. In 1419 Sigismund became lawful king of Bohe- 
mia, but the Bohemians refused to acknowledge him. A 
fierce civil war ensued ; the Hussites, as they called them- 
selves, were at first victorious, but religious and social dis- 
sensions arose among them ; conservative Bohemians, 
frightened at the radical changes proposed by the fanatical 
party, made peace with the Emperor and assisted him in 
restoring order. 



Bohemia. 



Germany, 12^^-i^gj 267 

The brief reign of Albrecht II. (1438-39), the son-in-law Aibrechtii., 
and heir of Sigismund, was important for the Hapsburgs, ^^^ ~^^" 
because he reacquired for them the imperial crown, and 
united under his dominion all the territory which has ever 
since formed the principal part of their possessions. He 
ruled over the duchy of Austria, Styria, Carniola, Tyrol, 
Bohemia, and Hungary. His nephew, Frederick III. Frederick III., 
(1440-93), succeeded him, but his reign presents only a long ^'^'^°~9^' 
succession of blunders. He lost Bohemia and Hungary, 
and they were not recovered by the Hapsburgs till 1526, 

The signal and unmerited good fortune which befel 
Frederick's house and gave to it new lustre was the acqui- The House of 
sition of the greater part of the states of the duke of Bur- quires Bur- ^ 
gundy. During the fifteenth century a collateral branch |p"[Jf ^^*^ 
of the House of France had gradually added to its French 
fief of Burgundy the whole of the Netherlands, and Charles 
the Bold, duke of Burgundy (1467-77), had become one 
of the foremost rulers of Europe. His ambition looked 
toward the establishment of a great middle kingdom be- 
tween France and Germany, independent of either. In 
this scheme the Swiss proved a stumbling-block. Their 
territory lay so opportune for his plans that he resolved to 
subjugate it. But the brave mountaineers beat back his in- 
vasion at Granson and Murten (1476), and finally his whole 
splendid chivalry went down before them at Nancy (1477). 
Charles himself was among the dead. Since there was only 
a daughter, Mary, to succeed him, Louis XL of France im- 
mediately seized the crown fief, the duchy of Burgundy prop- 
er, on the claim that it was vacant, and would have taken 
more had not Frederick promptly acquired Mary's hand in 
marriage for his son Maximilian (1477), and thus estab- 
lished a legal claim to the rest. So the territorial expan- 
sion of the House of Austria was not checked even under 
this weak king. A similar chance of a happy matrimonial 



268 A Short History of Mcdicsval Europe 

alliance gave it, a few years later, the vast possessions of 
Spain (15 1 6), when Maximilian's son, Philip, married 
Joan, heir of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. Their son, 
Charles, was the famous Emperor Charles V. {1519-55), 
who could dream of renewing the Empire of the west. 

Though the Hapsburgs figure, from the fifteenth century 
on, among the most powerful dynasties of Europe, the Em- 
Permanent pire in nowise profited from their strength. The decay of 
Empire. ^ ^^is institution had continued from the twelfth century on, 
and was destined to continue without interruption. One 
by one its cosmopolitan claims had been exploded. It was 
now only the national government of Germany. But even 
in Germany we have seen it lose its authority, and, al- 
though it tided itself over to the nineteenth century (1806), 
it was never again anything more than a body without a 
soul. Germany had lost her central government in all but 
name. German strength and civilization, as far as they 
acquired political expression at all in the modern period, 
sought refuge among the local governments of the princes 
and the cities. 



Rome. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE PAPACY, 1 250-1450 

The struggle between the Papacy and the Empire had 
been fatal to both. The Papacy, indeed, seemed to have 
won the victory, but it had lost much of its religious char- 
acter in the eyes of the people. The college of cardinals 
was divided into three parties, the Italian, the French, and 
the German. It was almost impossible to secure an uncon- Difficulties in 
tested election, and there were many times during the thir- 
teenth century when there was no Pope. In Rome the 
Pope was continually quarrelling with the citizens, and he 
often found it impossible to live there. Innocent IV. 
spent very little time in Rome; Alexander IV. (1254-61) 
was never there; and Clement IV. (1265-68) lived in 
Perugia. Anarchy prevailed in Italy, each city being in 
arms against its neighbor. 

In 1282 the uprising of the Sicilians against the French, 
called the Sicilian Vespers, took place, and shortly after- 
ward Peter III. of Aragon gained possession of Sicily in 
spite of all the resistance the Pope could offer. Italy was 
now more hopelessly divided than ever. The Spaniards 
held Sicily ; the French, southern Italy ; the Germans, 
parts of upper Italy; and the rest was divided among 
many cities and powers. Among the Ghibellines there 
lived on the hope that the Emperor would come from Ger- 
many and restore unity to Italy. It seemed impossible for 
the idea of the Empire to die. 

In 1294 Benedictus Cajetanus of Anagni, having com- 

a69 



2/0 A Short History of Mediaeval Eiirope 

pelled his predecessor to resign, was made Pope, with the 
Boniface title of Boniface VIII. (i 294-1303). His pontificate 

1303."' ^^'^^~ marked the highest pretensions, and, at the same time, 
proved the impotence, of the Papacy. ''When Boniface 
mounted the throne he found much in the complexion of 
politics which invited a brilliant course of papal states- 
manship. The Holy Land was in the power of the infi- 
dels ; the Sicilian question still undecided. In Germany, 
instead of the powerful Rudolf of Hapsburg, ruled a less 
powerful king, Adolphus of Nassau j Philip IV. , the Fair, 
king of France, and Edward I., king of England, were 
engaged in a desperate war. On both sides were numer- 
ous allies, namely, on the French side, the king of Scotland, 
on the English, Adolphus, king of Germany, and the count 
of Flanders. Boniface wished, after the example of Innocent 
HI., to convert this war at once into a suit to be decided 
before him, and when his legates were dismissed by Philip 
he thought to frighten the king by forbidding him to im- 
pose extraordinary taxes on the clergy." In the famous 
bull, '' Clericis Laicos," he forbade, on pain of excommuni- 
cation, all laymen to collect taxes on Church lands, and all 
clergymen to pay them. Since the Church was very rich 
in lands, if this bull had been enforced the income of the 
king would have been greatly diminished. Philip IV. re- 
taliated by forbidding any money to be taken out of France 
into Italy, thus cutting off the Pope's income. For a time 
Boniface yielded, and even tried to make peace with Philip. 
He said the bull was not to be enforced in France, and 
even granted Philip the tithe from the French clergy for 
three years. But the quarrel soon broke out again. Philip 
received at his court two members of the Colonna family, 
whom Boniface had exiled from Rome, and made an 
alliance with Albrecht, king of Germany, whose election 
Boniface refused to recognize; seizing also and imprison- 



The Papacy^ 12^0-14.^0 271 

ing the papal legate. Angered by this, Boniface sent forth 
one decree after another against Philip. The French clergy- 
were summoned to Rome to meet the Pope and settle the 
dispute. Another bull, ''Unam Sanctam," was issued, 
which declared that the Pope was entrusted with both the 
spiritual and temporal power, and that whoever resisted 
him was resisting the ordinance of God. Submission in 
temporal matters to the Pope was declared to be necessary 
for salvation. Boniface next threatened to depose Philip 
and put him under the ban if he did not yield. Albrecht 
of Germany made peace with the Pope and accepted the 
terms of the bull, *'Unam Sanctam," but Phihp called 
another meeting of his council, preferred a large number 
of charges against Boniface, and called for a general coun- 
cil to settle the matter. Boniface then published the ban 
and edict of deposition, only to be besieged in Anagni a 
month later by the king's ambassador, William of Nogaret, 
and the Colonna family. He was personally maltreated, but 
set free a few days later, dying, however, the next month, 
probably from chagrin and anger caused by the indignities 
which had been heaped upon him. 

It was Boniface VIII. who celebrated the jubilee in The Jubilee of 
1300, an event which stirred the minds and imaginations 
of the people at that time most deeply. During this cele- 
bration Boniface, it is said, gave expression to his extrava- 
gant claims by seating himself on the imperial throne, 
^'arrayed with sword and crown and sceptre, shouting 
aloud, ' I am Csesar ! I am Emperor ! ' " 

His successor, Benedict II. (1303-4), was hard pressed 
by Philip IV., and at last retracted all the extravagant 
claims of Boniface so far as France was concerned. For 
nearly a year after his death the cardinals could not agree 
on a candidate, but at length the French party in the col- 
lege elected the bishop of Bordeaux, who had already 



1300. 



Avignon. 



272 A Short History of MedicBval Europe 

made a secret compact with Philip IV. He chose the 
name of Clement V. (1304-14). In 1309 he moved the 
Clement V. at whole Curia to Avignon. Rome was no longer safe for 
him, the noble families of the city being constantly en- 
gaged in street brawls, and since the German Emperors had 
lost their power, there was no one to preserve order. He 
went to Avignon because that city was in France, and 
France was at that time the leading country of Europe. 
Philip IV. wished to use the Papacy against other nations. 
There was a certain advantage in this to the Pope. He 
could issue his bulls against hostile powers in all security, 
because being surrounded by French territory no foreign 
power could reach him. But the Papacy lost much in the 
estimation of the world. It was but a tool in the hands of 
the French king, whose powers were rapidly growing. 
The religious authority of the Pope suffered much, and 
various parts of the Church showed signs of breaking loose 
from it. Clement V. yielded to almost all the demands 
of Philip IV. He supported him in the unjust destruction 
of the order of Knights Templars. He was despised by 
the people of his time, and before he died Dante had al- 
ready put him into hell. 

His successor, John XXII., spent most of his time in a 
bitter struggle with Ludwig of Bavaria (1314-47) about 
the imperial crown and Italy, which is marked by the ap- 
pearance of a new theory of the state, promulgated by one 
branch of the Franciscans. They advanced the idea that 
the people are sovereign. ''Church" meant the whole 
body of Christian believers, not, as the Roman Catholic 
Church said, the clergy alone. Even the laymen are all 
viri ecclesiastici, that is, they have a part in the govern- 
ment of the Church. The highest authority is vested in 
a General Council. The Papacy is not apostolic in its 
origin, but dates from the time of Constantine. The Pope, 



The Papacy, 12^0-14.^0 273 

therefore, has no authority over kings, and the state is in- 
dependent of him. These Franciscans were protected by 
Ludwig, and assisted him in his struggle. Other writers, 
however, continued to develop a definite theory of the 
supremacy of the Pope. 

During the residence of the Popes at Avignon the finances 
of the Papacy were systematized and everything done to in- 
sure the collection of vast sums of money. The principal 
aim of the Church seemed to be to tax the world. This 
period of the residence of the Popes in Avignon is general- 
ly called by church historians the Babylonian Exile of the 
Papacy. 

In 1378 the papal Schism began. Gregory XI. had The Schism, 
finally, in 1377, moved the Curia back to Rome, but died 
the next year. Urban VI. (1378-89) was elected in Rome, 
but by his harsh manner he alienated those cardinals who 
were under the influence of the French king, and they soon 
after revolted from him, declared his election void, and 
elected Clement VII. (1378-94). Clement soon withdrew 
to Avignon and continued the papal line there, while Ur- 
ban VI. remained in Rome. There were now two men 
claiming to be Pope. Germany, England, Denmark, 
Sweden, and Poland declared for Urban ; France, Naples, 
Savoy, Scotland, Lorraine, Castile, and Aragon were true 
to Clement VII. For about thirty years there were two 
lines of Popes, and the religious world did not know which 
one to obey. The Schism gave rise to the severest criticism 
of the Papacy, and gave such men as Wyclif and Huss a 
good opportunity to set forth doctrines at variance with 
those of the Church. 

Since neither Pope would yield, and it seemed impossible 
to end the Schism in any other way, the idea of calling a 
universal Council was broached. It was declared that in the The Conciliar 
early days of the Church a Council had been the highest 



Mi^bority. Thfe |x>$ttion of authority had l>een usuri^cd 
by the JNcq^ies. Now let the CoimoU l^ called, and ^inoo it 
is ct>mpetem to do so, lot it say who is the ri^hi rojw 
After loi>g discussion of all this the cardinals called a Covur 
cil K> n>eet at Hs^x (1400^. This Council do\x\< / V > 
l\>l^es, ai>d ekvicvl Akwander \\, Ihu as the dc^. .^ 

refused K> acknowlevi^e the authvvity of the Council, there 
wx^ie now three rojx^sJ and the Schisin was made woi^\ 
Althoii^h Alexander V. had j^rxMniscvl not to dismiss the 
Council xmtil the l^sij>acy had been retormevi, aiid esj^ecially 
its finajices rx^giilaicvl, he sjoon |>rxirog\K\i it on the grv^md 
that not sutikient i^n^iwrations had been made to jarxxwI 
with the relonn, 

FttMn this thev>ry vM mo jyMvor ot" the Council o\x^r the 
Fope this jx^rioil has l^een c;Uk\i the conciliar ejxx^h. It 
juxxiuced tw o more Councils, that of Constance and that ot 
Basd. In Coivstance (^1414^ the question of the Schism 
w*as again taken uix FIvery cardinal swore once more that. 
if elected, he would reform the Church before dismissiing 
the CoimciL In 1417 Martin V, was elected, after the 
three otiier Popes had Ixx^n dejx^sed. but he destroyed all 
hopes of refonn by adjourning the Council and declaring 
that whoever appealed to a general Council would Ix^ guilty 
of her«y. 

The idea of a refbnn w*as still strong in the minds of 
many, and the belief that a general Coimcil could reform 
FUsel, 1431. the Church led to the callii>g of a thirii Council at Basel 
(1431). The Poj^e, howe\*er, w*as too shrewd and strong 
for the reform j>arty, and succeeded in blocking all their 
attempts to reform the Church. Some action w-.is taken, 
indeed, but the Pope was able to prevent its being en- 
forced. The failure of this council showed that no reform 
could come by way of l^slation. FK>m the time of 
Eugene IV. (1431-47) a new period may be said to have 






'I he rupacy^ jj^u-i^s^^ 275 

b*-;Min for lli': V:\\>:u y . '\'\i<: f.ondliar idca \(fHi all \U JXiWCT, 
.ililioii^^h th': \>i:(i\>\(: still f allcd for a general (.'ounrjl, and 
even Kutlier, nearly a hundred yearn later, thought at fjrjtt 
that the Chureh rni;',ht. he re-formed hy thi» mcarw. 'lljc 
I'f^pes gave up all thought of a reform, and the V'd\ni(,y 
l>ef:arne a politieal j>rinei[;ality. Tfie l'o|x» of the succeed- 
ing jxjriod are often ealied lieathen. 



CHAPTER XXI 



THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE 



Characteristic 
ideas of the 
Middle Age. 



The Middle 
Age was pro- 
ductive in 
many fields. 



The period which we have been studying, erroneously 
called the Dark Ages, had a civilization peculiarly its own. 
Politically, the age was dominated by the idea of the world- 
Empire, until the thirteenth century saw the destruction of 
the Empire and the rise of nationalities and states. Eccle- 
siastically, it was ruled by the idea of the world-Church, 
with the Pope at its head, until the Papacy lost sight of its 
religious calling and degraded itself to the rank of a politi- 
cal principality. Intellectually, the period may be gauged 
by the fact that the Germans, a vigorous, primitive people, 
were slowly learning, adopting, and adapting the Roman 
civilization preserved and taught them by the Church. Of 
all the institutions in the Middle Age the Church, because 
she held the position of both priest and teacher of the young 
barbarian world, was by far the most powerful. She as- 
sumed an authority that was often burdensome, trying many 
times to limit and even to prevent any new social or intel- 
lectual movement which seemed calculated to diminish her 
supremacy. This clerical domination lasted almost unques- 
tioned till about 1300. Then, after many ineffectual at- 
tempts, Europe, finally, in the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- 
turies, broke away from it, intellectually, in the Renaissance 
and, religiously, in the Reformation. 

The Middle Age presents many phenomena which indi- 
cate that the mind of man was not idle. The schools of 
Karl the Great, and the universities which appear about 

276 



The Italian Renaissance 277 

the twelfth century ; the Latin Hterature, chronicles, biog- 
raphies, histories, controversial and doctrinal writings ; 
the two opposing systems of philosophy, nominahsm and 
realism, each of which was represented by men who have 
left us many works attesting the keenness and power of 
their intellects ; the many treatises on theological questions ; 
the religious writings of such men as Bernhard of Clairvaux, 
Eckhart, and Thomas a Kempis, whose inimitable '< Imi- 
tation of Christ ' ' is still a classic of men mystically inclined ; 
the organized life of the nobihty, as seen in Chivalry, with 
its ideal of Christian knighthood, and its literature of relig- 
ion, love, war, and adventure ; the minstrels, in the north 
of France the trouveres, in the south the troubadours, in 
Germany the minnesingers ; the lyric poetry, and especially 
the great national or religious epics, such as the Song of 
Roland, the Nibelungenlied, the Tales of king Arthur and 
the Round Table, the Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, the 
Tales about Karl the Great, and Alexander the Great, 
and the Holy Grail, and the Divine Comedy of Dante ; 
the two great styles of architecture, the Romanesque (to 
1 1 50) and the Gothic (11 25-1 500), with their magnifi- 
cent churches, cathedrals, city halls, and palaces; the 
decorative arts, wood-carving, glass and panel-painting, 
sculpture, miniature painting and illuminating ; the religious 
painting whose greatest representative is Giotto ; the new 
life in the cities, the growth of commerce, the rise of the 
people to wealth and political independence, their activity 
in building, in the practice of the fine as well as the in- 
dustrial arts, in literature, such as the fables, miracle plays, 
and master-songs ; what more is necessary to show that the 
Middle Age was full of mental vigor and activity, much of 
which may still command our interest and admiration ? 

The Renaissance in its broadest signification is the name The 
given the new civilization which gradually displaced in the 



278 A SJiort History of Mediceval Europe 

minds of men the mediaeval conceptions of the state, of 
society, of nature, of art, and of philosophy. It was a 
revolution under the dominant influence of the Roman- 
Greek world, which, after a thousand years of oblivion, 
was again brought to light and life. The world had out- 
grown the narrow ideals of the Middle Age, and when the 
ancient world was revealed in the fourteenth and fifteenth 
centuries by its art and literary treasures, there was a spon- 
taneous movement toward the freer life which had been the 
charm of classic times. But as the people could not wholly 
get away from their past, so the Renaissance is characterized 
by the fusion of the classical with the mediaeval. 
The Renais- The Renaissance had its origin, and reached its highest 

Italy! ^^^" '" development, in Italy, and was from there carried to all the 
other countries of Europe. In Italy the conditions favor- 
able to such a movement were far more numerous than 
anywhere else. Italy had more of the Roman civilization. 
Rome was there with her monuments and all her wealth of 
traditions. Though the wear and tear of daily use had 
greatly simplified it, and it was rapidly becoming Italian, 
the Latin tongue was kept alive. In Italy the power of 
the Empire was weakest, and the feudal system remained 
an excrescence. The cities of Italy were the first to be- 
come independent. Their situation, with all its opportu- 
nities, seemed to act as an intellectual ferment, and for 
a while they led the world in civilization. 

No fixed date can be given for the beginning of the Re- 
naissance ; but when the awakened intelligence of the peo- 
ple began to busy itself with the materials of antiquity, it 
may be said to have been fairly initiated. Not that the 
classics had been wholly neglected during the Middle Age. 
Many Latin authors had been read ; but the point of view 
from which they were regarded was now changed. And, 
besides, while hitherto they had been read and studied by 



The Italian Renaissance 2*j^ 

the clergy, they now became the intellectual possession of 
the laity. 

Petrarch (1304-74), because he did not stand under the Petrarch, 
control of the ideas of the Middle Age, is commonly called ^^^^''^^ 
the first modern man. His education was not mediaeval. 
He was trained in the study of the best Latin siuthors, and 
their beauties he learned to appreciate and imitate. He 
leads the list of able men, those Humanists, who with this 
changed conception of the classics devoted themselves to 
their study. While he based his claim to fame on his 
Latin works, we admire him because of his sonnets and 
songs in Italian. 

No man before Petrarch was so deeply introspective in 
a psychological way as he. He may be said to have re- 
discovered the world of emotions as well as the world of 
the senses without. He had a direct pleasure in the beauti- 
ful things of the earth, her hills and valleys, her fields and 
flowers. The Middle Age believed that nature with all her 
glorious phenomena were manifestations of the Evil One. 
Petrarch almost emancipated himself from this view. Per- 
haps he was the first man in centuries to climb a mountain 
for the mere delight of the journey. In 1335 he made the 
difficult ascent of Mt. Ventoux in France. When he reached 
the summit he was for a moment lost in admiration of the 
magnificent prospect. But only for a moment. The medi- 
aeval man in him soon reasserted himself. Overcome by 
the recollection of his sins and follies, he drew from his 
pocket and began to read his favorite book, the ' ' Confes- 
sions of St. Augustine." 

Boccaccio (1313-75)? a friend of Petrarch, like him was 
a scholar whose interests were centred in the works of an- 
tiquity. Although a Latin author of renown in his day, 
he is known to us as the author of the '' Decameron," the 
first great work in Italian prose. 



28o A Short History of MedicBval Europe 



Poggio, 

1380-1459. 

Laurentius, 
1406-57. 



Italian Art 
before the 
Renaissance. 



Romanesque 
and Gothic 
architecture. 



Petrarch and Boccaccio were followed by a large number 
of scholars of varied attainments, who collected and copied 
manuscripts, wrote works in Latin, and taught in the uni- 
versities. The most famous among them were Poggio, cele- 
brated for his wit, and Laurentius Valla, known as the 
father of historical criticism, because he proved that the 
Donation of Constantine was a forgery. Florence became 
the home of this new learning and the centre of the Hu- 
manistic movement. The Medici family were its patrons, 
and to this fact owe much of their fame. The Popes, 
too, became eager promoters of art and Humanism, and 
spent large sums in rebuilding, restoring, and beautifying 
Rome. 

Not all the art of Italy is Renaissance art. The Renais- 
sance, we have seen, begins with Petrarch and his disciples, 
but there was an art in Italy before Petrarch. It does not 
lie within our task to treat of it at length. Two broad di- 
visions are usually noted : the Romanesque period (800- 
1250) and the Gothic period (i 250-1400). 

Art practice had almost died out in Italy after the inva- 
sions. The old structures, baths, theatres, arches of tri- 
umph, etc., were allowed to decay, and gradually were 
converted into the fortresses of robber barons, provided 
they were not still more unfortunate and did not suffer utter 
destruction because of the vast amount of convenient build- 
ing material they afforded. Mosaics, the cutting and carv- 
ing of jewels, gold and silversmith work, the miniature arts, 
in a word, were alone kept up with any success. But as 
more settled conditions succeeded, the old affection for 
things beautiful began to return. Desire fixed first, and 
naturally, upon finer churches. The eleventh century saw 
the construction of the cathedral of Pisa, which became the 
point of departure for a new style. It is characterized by 
round arches, colonnades of pillars, and other Roman rem- 



The Italian Renaissance 281 

iniscences. Many cities of Tuscany and the North, moved 
by the same rehgious enthusiasm, followed the example of 
Pisa. The Tuscan-Romanesque thus created had something 
of a vogue, but before it had been allowed to evolve it- 
self completely it was supplanted by the Gothic. The 
Gothic with its pointed arch was a foreign importation and 
never struck firm roots in the peninsula. It was plain that 
the future of art in Italy lay in a return to the national tra- 
dition. The return was accomplished by the Renaissance. 

Sculpture and painting began to be practised more vigor- Early sculpt- 
ously about the same time that architecture took a new il[|.^" paint- 
start. Two names sum up the pre-Renaissance activity in 
these art-branches, Niccolo Pisano and Giotto. Niccolo 
Pisano (d. 1278) is the first great sculptor of Italy, as Gi- 
otto (d. 1339) is the first great painter. They placed their 
respective arts upon a new footing, but their immediate 
successors, instead of developing, squandered their inheri- 
tance. Their failure to develop these arts along the new 
lines indicated by Pisano and Giotto gave the artists of 
the Renaissance their opportunity. For in sculpture and 
painting, too, as in architecture, the Renaissance created 
a wholly new basis and became a new starting-point for 
the artistic development of Italy. 

It will prove convenient to consider the Renaissance art Three periods 
in its several phases. The early Renaissance extends from sance art. 
about 1420 to 1500 ; the Renaissance proper from 1500 to 
1530; after that, reaching to the end of the century, comes 
the late Renaissance, which is distinguished by a rapid de- 
cay. Our concern is with the first and second periods. 

The artistic revival is properly the offspring of humanism. 

The first great apostle of antiquity, the Petrarch among the 

artists, was the Florentine Filippo Brunellesco (1379- Architecture. 
,' ,, ,. ,\ . r\- Brunellesco. 

1446). He was an architect, and that it was one 01 his art, 

and not a sculptor or painter, who re-introduced the classi- 



282 A SJiort History of Mediceval Europe 



Alberti. 



Bramante. 



cal forms need cause no surprise. Architecture has always 
gone in advance of the other arts, preparing the way for 
them. It erects the monuments, sculpture and painting 
ornament them. And then architecture found her way 
back to antiquity more readily than the sister arts. The 
painting of antiquity was destroyed, the sculpture buried, 
but the architecture was visible and tangible in a large num- 
ber of beautiful ruins. In the year 1403 Brunellesco set 
out for Rome with the avowed purpose of studying Roman 
antiquity. His protracted residence in the Eternal City, 
during which he occupied himself with a profound study of 
the ancient buildings, marks an epoch. Upon his return 
to Florence he applied his new knowledge with wonderful 
success. He got the commission to raise the cupola over 
the cathedral of Florence, a magnificent undertaking which 
had defied the efforts of all others, the first in point of time 
of all great cupolas, and eclipsed only by St. Peter's. 
Secondly, in the churches of San Lorenzo and San Spirito 
he made an end of the Gothic style in Italy, returning 
again to the form of the old Basilica. The simple grace of 
rows of Ionic or Corinthian columns spanned by artistically 
decorated round arches won its old ascendency over the 
Italian mind, and once for all displaced the sombre inten- 
sity of the pointed-arch architecture in central Italy. 
Thirdly, in his Pitti Palace, he raised a residence which 
for originality and massive grandeur remains unequalled. 

Brunellesco's activity proved highly fruitful. The new 
style met with a triumphal reception everywhere. Leo 
Battista Alberti (d. 1472), of Florence, erected the Palazzo 
Rucellai in his native city, and the Church of San Fran- 
cesco at Rimini. Bramante, a Lombard architect (d. 
1 5 14), made the next great step in advance. His work 
lay in the direction of a greater purity of expression. The 
classical forms were more completely mastered by him, 



TJic Italian Renaissance 283 

and with avoidance of mere hollow imitation were cleverly 
adapted to modern uses. His going to Rome upon the call 
of the Pope perhaps contributed most toward making that 
city the centre of the second and most complete period of 
Renaissance art. He was the first architect of St. Peter's, 
but unfortunately his plan was greatly modified after his 
death. Michel Angelo Buonarroti (d. 1564) in his capacity Michel An- 
of architect marks no step in advance over Bramante. His ^^^°' 
most famous achievement, in the art of building, is the cu- 
pola of St. Peter's. Michel Angelo lived to see the decay 
of the Renaissance forms to the atrocities of the barocco} 
and even may himself be said to have contributed to it 
with his designs for the fagade of S. Lorenzo and with the 
new Sacristy of the same church. 

An unexampled building activity, extending from Bru- 
nellesco to Michel Angelo, fairly covered Italy with 
structures of the new style. We noted its beginnings and 
its decline ; it has, like all such movements, a gradual rise Characteristic 
(early Renaissance), a culmination (full Renaissance), and °an^earchi- 
a setting (late Renaissance). Brunellesco used the new texture, 
knowledge judiciously, giving full weight to tradition, while 
maintaining his own personality, and taking wise account 
of the changed uses of modern structures. He never for- 
got that the Christian architect was not expected to rear 
baths, triumphal arches, and open theatres, but churches 
and residences, and he attempted to find a style which 
would represent the marriage of classical principles to 
modern requirements. He was a genius, and, as happens 
with such, far outleaped his immediate followers. While 
he was definite in expression and resolute in aim, they 
bungled and experimented, allowed their imaginations too 
free a range, and ended by producing monuments, which 

1 This name was given the later architecture of the Renaissance be- 
cause of its ludicrous extravagance. 



284 A Short History of Mcdiceval Europe 



Architecture 
stimulates the 
other arts. 



Sculpture. 



Quercia. 



if they are elaborate and attractive, are frequently marred 
by grotesqueness. Then came Bramante with his self-re- 
straint and order ; he found the most acceptable solution 
of the problem of adaptation which Brunellesco had first 
expounded, for although the Roman-Greek ideal of beauty 
was by him thoroughly absorbed, the modern personality 
was not sacrificed. But the world is so constituted that it 
cannot pause long at perfection. From the time of Michel 
Angelo it fell into a love of violent effects which destroyed 
repose and simplicity. 

One feature of early Renaissance architecture merits a 
further word, especially on account of its consequences for 
the other arts. It is the strong love of decoration dis- 
played throughout the fifteenth century. The age had all 
the boisterous quahties of youth; above all, it was graced 
with a lively imagination, and revelled in gay colors, in 
sculptured friezes, in fancy woodwork, and in every kind 
of heightening in the power of the sister arts. Architecture 
thus proved a mighty force in the development of the kin- 
dred branches. But the architect did not only give employ- 
ment to the sculptor by leaving him niches to fill, or to the 
painter by creating walls for him. Not only to the artists 
did he lend encouragement, but also to the artisans ; and 
one of the rarest pleasures of the connoisseur of Renaissance 
art is derived from the uniform deUcacy of the smallest art 
details, e.g.^ the stone -carved altars, the tarsia (inlaid 
work) of the choir seats, or the designs of cup and jewel- 
case and crozier. 

Four sculptors almost contemporaneously carry the new 
spirit into their art : Jacopo della Quercia, Lorenzo Ghi- 
berti, Donatello, and Luca della Robbia. Of these the 
first was a Sienese, the others Florentines. Though they 
all exhibit the new influence, their styles are very different. 
Quercia (i 374-1438) created his master-work in the sculpt- 



The Italian Renaissance 285 

ures of the portal of S. Petronio, at Bologna. They show 
a delight in the problem of form and a mastery over the 
nude which comes with a start in a man who was born into a 
world governed by Gothic traditions and who himself never 
altogether shook them off. He was a restless genius, always 
in motion, who worked unevenly and rarely finished what 
he undertook. 

Querela was perhaps only once in his life brought into 
close contact with his Florentine contemporaries. It was 
on the occasion (1401) of the competition for the bronze 
doors of the Baptistery of St. John. The Florentines proved 
themselves superior to him, and upon the voluntary with- 
drawal from the competition of Brunellesco (who, disgusted 
with his own work, resolved to forsake sculpture for archi- 
tecture) the prize was awarded to Lorenzo Ghiberti. Ghi- Ghiberti. 
berti (13 78-145 5) was brought up, like so many of his 
brother artists, to the profession of goldsmith, and showed 
the good and bad effects of this apprenticeship to the end 
of his days. While his narrative is fluent and his execu- 
tion delicate, he never could reach the grandeur that is 
proper to the larger scale of work which the sculptor em- 
ploys. His fame rests rightly on the two bronze doors of 
the Baptistery, for the small dimensions of the compart- 
ments required just the kind of talent of exposition and 
finish which he possessed. Michel Angelo pronounced 
the later door to be worthy to serve as the gate to Paradise. 

Donato di Betta Bardi, known for his loving qualities 
by the diminutive Donatello (i 386-1466), was an infi- Donatello. 
nitely more robust artist, and came just in the nick of time 
to preserve the influence of Ghiberti from drawing all effort 
off in the direction of prettiness and grace. He planted 
himself firmly on reality. Nature was the alpha and omega 
of his creed, and held such ascendency over him that al- 
though he was deeply stirred by antiquity, to which he 



286 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Luca della 
Robbia. 



Robbia-ware. 



was introduced through the influence of his friend Brunel- 
lesco, the classical ideal was well held in abeyance. How- 
ever, he, among Renaissance artists, made the first com- 
plete study of the nude (David, in the Museum of Flor- 
ence). Donatello's work ought properly, on account of 
its importance, to be considered by stages of development, 
but we cannot do more than name a few representative 
productions. His most ambitious work is the bronze 
equestrian statue of Gattamelata, at Padua. ^ Horse and 
man are admirably studied. The St. George, at Florence, 
is one of the most popular statues in the world. It belongs 
to Donatello's earlier period, and in its attitude and ex- 
pression of concentrated energy, alert for service, mediaeval 
chivalry may be said to have made its last self-revelation. 

A class of work which admirably suited Donatello's 
affectionate temperament was his childhood studies. The 
boy Jesus and the boy John he presented at every stage of 
growth, giving us in a series of busts and statues a number 
of delightful transcripts of the little urchins who met his 
gaze in the Florentine streets. In his rendering of children 
he stands, perhaps, unsurpassed among the sculptors of all 
times. 

Luca della Robbia's (1400-82) greatest work is the or- 
gan-loft which he created in competition with Donatello, 
for the cathedral of Florence. Around the balustrade run, 
in bas - relief, the famous choirs and bands of children. 
Every charming attitude of childhood Luca's art has im- 
mortalized in his singing and dancing girls and boys. 

Perhaps Luca's name, however, is more frequently pro- 
nounced in connection with the so-called Robbia-ware 
(blue and white glazed terra-cotta) which he first brought 
into vogue. The cheapness of the material made it possi- 



» The glory Donatello achieved by this work is further heightened by 
the fact that it was the first grand equestrian statue since antiquity. 



The Italian Renaissance 287 

ble for every church, no matter what its size, to have its 
altar-piece or door-lunette from the Robbia workshop. 
The making of the white madonna looking down out of a 
blue sky, while the child hung about her neck, and angel 
heads peeped through opening rifts around, developed into 
a regular industry. 

Andrea del Verocchio (1435-88) began life as a gold- Verocchio, 
smith, and achieved great renown in this branch. Un- '^'^^ 
fortunately all of his' pieces except one are lost. Though 
he took up painting, he cannot be ranked with the masters 
of this art. His epoch-making activity lay in the province 
of sculpture. Most meritorious are his David (Florence 
Museum), an exquisite boy just shooting into manhood, 
his Doubting Thomas (Florence, Or San Michele), and 
his equestrian statue of the condottiere, Colleoni, at Ven- 
ice. It is generally judged that this is the finest large 
bronze of the whole Renaissance period, and that the war 
spirit animating rider and horse, welding them into one, 
has never been caught in so convincing a manner. 

With Michel Angelo (1475-1564), sculpture entered its Michel An- 
last stage. This Titanic man practised all the arts, and f^ej 
was, as has been well said, from sheer inability to do his 
wonderful many-sidedness justice, four souls in one, that 
is, was eminent and creative as architect, as sculptor, as 
painter, and as poet. 

He was apprenticed, when a lad, to the painter Ghir- 
landajo, but did not remain long with him. Lorenzo de' 
Medici soon interested himself in the promising boy, took 
him into his palace, giving him a seat at his own table, and 
then set him to studying the antiques he had collected in 
the garden of S. Marco. In 1496 the young sculptor jour- 
neyed to Rome, and his life after that may be said to have 
been passed between the capital of the Popes and his na- 
tive city, which two places accordingly possess almost all 



288 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



His training. 



His early 
works. 



His style. 



his works. He lived only for his art, and like men of such 
consuming inner energy soon became lonely and unsocial. 
Therefore the outward events of his life are not peculiarly 
striking. 

In the literal sense of the word it is true that he was his 
own master, borrowing from none. No trace of what he 
learned from Ghirlandajo or any other can be found in his 
works ; therefore, of Florentine sculpture, he cannot be 
said to be the logical culmination. He is undoubtedly a 
Florentine by his art, but occupies a unique position among 
Florentines. His best early works are the Drunken Bac- 
chus (Florence), the Pieta (Rome), the colossal David 
(Florence), and a number of Madonnas in relief. For 
some these are Michel Angelo's most enjoyable creations. 
In all of them the terribilitd, of which his contemporaries 
spoke with such awe, and which is his true manner, is 
either absent or only forming. In the works of his ripe 
years, the Medicean tombs at Florence, the Moses at 
Rome, and the Slaves at Paris, it speaks with a full voice. 
Instead of repose "in the eventual element of calm," 
which is the art -ideal of the Greeks, Michel Angelo fills 
his figures with an overflowing feeling of some vast pain or 
fate. Expression is everything to him, and mere beauty, 
the Greek beauty of pure form, never had a message which 
he caught. 

Michel Angelo's unique genius captured Italy by storm. 
The next generation thought only of imitating him or else 
the antique models from which it was supposed he drew his 
strength. In either case the artist sacrificed his person- 
The decline of ality. Sculpture lost its genial qualities and entered upon 
a rapid decline. 

The Renaissance found its most complete expression, 
after all, not in sculpture, but in painting, and that though 
sculpture received far greater aid from antiquity and was 



sculpture. 



The Italian Renaissance 289 

first to make a beginning. Painting began very modestly Development 
under the protection of the Church. Altar-pieces exhibited °^P^'"^>"S- 
to the gaze of the faithful, the Madonna or some saint, and 
chapel walls recalled the Passion of Christ. With the ad- 
vancing Renaissance, however, the vision of the painter 
widens. Like the sculptor, he is drawn to the study of 
nature. Realism becomes his artistic creed. Masaccio 
(1402-29), a Florentine, is the first great revolutionary, 
comparable in his services to Donatello and Brunellesco. 

Painting, which had begun in the service of the Church, The painting 
does not dissolve that connection with the Renaissance, since. ^^"^^^' 
Only from the time of the discovery of its new powers it 
began to offer more than the Church demanded. Mere 
figures of holy men and women to serve as reminders of the 
perfect life, was all that the Church had originally expected 
of its hand-maid. In the fifteenth century the painters vol- 
untarily offer additions and embellishments in accordance 
with their new perceptions. They put the figure into an 
appropriate environment of street or field. They take de- 
light in realistic adjuncts, such as playing children, animals, 
etc., which have nothing whatever to do with the religious 
theme, but undoubtedly render the scene more evident. 
Presently the biblical figures lost their stole and their au- 
reole and took on the sturdy humanity of the contempo- 
rary burghers. Hand in hand with these innovations went 
an astonishing development of proficiency in drawing. In 
these ways painting gradually lost much of its original in- 
tensity but immensely increased its subject-matter. In a 
word, it sacrificed its religious function and frankly launched 
out upon life. 

Masaccio was the inaugurator of this epoch. Almost all Masaccio. 
that remains of this great genius' work are the frescoes in the 
Brancacci chapel at Florence, a part of which are the product 
of his brush. They treat of scenes from the life of the Apos- 



290 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



Fra Filippo 
Lippi. 



Fra Angelico. 



Botticelli, 
Lippi, Ghir- 
landajo. 



ties Peter and John. The Tribute Money, representing Christ 
surrounded by the Apostles, is in the reality of its figures and 
in its unity one of the most powerful compositions in exist- 
ence. The succeeding generations down to Raffaele and Mi- 
chel Angelo studied and profited from the Brancacci chapel. 

Fra Filippo Lippi (1406-69) took his clue from Masac- 
cio. But he sacrifices the dignity of his master and strives 
especially for the pretty rendering of accessories, the smiles 
of children or a household still-life. The old religious se- 
verity vanishes completely with him, and an innocent 
pleasure in all phases of existence glows in all his works. 

Benozzo Gozzoli (1420-98) works in the same vein and 
even more naively. Fra Angelico (138 7-1 45 5) a Dominican 
monk, displays a thorough mediaeval current of feehng, which 
by some accident found its way into the Renaissance period. 
He cared little or nothing for that proficiency in form and 
execution for which his contemporaries strove almost ex- 
clusively, but worked in the old Christian spirit for which 
art was not an end in itself but a symbol. What is possible 
to that interpretation he gives, a Christian aspiration as 
warm and ennobling as that of Giotto. The monastery of 
S. Marco at Florence, where he lovingly filled the cells of 
his brother monks with Christian ideals and records, re- 
mains his unique monument. 

The last great Florentine painters of the fifteenth cen- 
tury are Sandro Botticelli (1447-15 10), Filippino Lippi 
(145 7-1 504), son of Fra Filippo, and Domenico Ghir- 
landajo (1449-94). The two latter carry on the purely 
reahstic movement, but Ghirlandajo is by far the nobler 
in his art. His cycle of frescoes in the choir of S. Maria 
Novella (Florence), representing scenes from the lives of 
John and Mary, is one of the most notable monumental 
labors of the century. In Botticelli there still sounds a note 
of the old idealism, and his great charm lies in the peculiar 



The Italian Renaissance 291 

blending of it with the reahstic tendency of the day. He 
is a sad painter (see his numerous Madonnas), and he ended 
sadly, hesitating between art and religion in the fear that 
they were, mutually exclusive. He tried a curious experi- 
ment of translating the stories of ancient mythology into 
form and color which remains a witness of the strong in- 
fluence of the humanists upon the painters. 

A great number of schools of painting, which can hardly Other Schools, 
be named here, arose in the fifteenth century. The school 
of Siena is important. In Umbria Francesca (d. 1492) Francesca. 
and Perugino (d. 1524) justly attained a wide popularity. Perugino. 
Andrea Mantegna (1430-1506) was the greatest of the Andrea Man- 
school of Padua. ^^"^* 

It is curious to reflect that that city, which in its later School of 
development reached a point of excellence in the province 
of painting, which makes it the rival and possibly the supe- 
rior of Florence, should have entered so late upon the paths 
of the Renaissance. But the insularity of Venice, geo- 
graphically and intellectually, was such in its early days, 
that it took a long while before a continental movement 
leaped across the lagoons. When, however, the art of 
painting had once taken root there, it made rapid progress 
and soon acquired a perfectly national mode of expression. 
There must have been something about the rich atmos- 
phere of the sea-city and its vivacious inhabitants which 
was congenial to its development. The first great name is The Bellini, 
that of the Bellini, the father, Jacopo (d. 1404), and his 
two sons. Gentile and Giovanni. Little of Jacopo's work 
has come down to us, but it is clear that it was he who 
introduced the continental influences, since there is record 
of his relations with Umbrian and Florentine masters, and, 
more especially, with Mantegna, who married his daughter. 
The two sons Gentile (d. 1507) and Giovanni (d. 1516) 
began in the manner of Mantegna, but soon developed a 



292 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



the Venetian 
school is color, 



Style which is thoroughly their own. Giovanni is the 
more famous. The path he travels is pursued by the 
The feature of whole Venetian school after him. Its feature is the de- 
velopment of color. Broadly stated the Venetians are 
the only Italians who fully apprehended the possibilities of 
color. They are the colorists, the Florentines the draughts- 
men. Giovanni is admired besides for his beautiful airy 
backgrounds (they are the germ of landscape painting) and 
his rich tone and deep poetical feeling. His enthroned 
Madonnas, surrounded usually by groups of venerable and 
strongly individualized saints, are possibly the noblest 
devotional pictures of the whole period. 

The masters thus far enumerated are essentially of the 
fifteenth century, of the early Renaissance. The full 
Renaissance which follows, covers a very short period 
(1500-30 about), but is graced by the greatest names of 
the period, and in them presents the legitimate culmi- 
nation of the different schools we have indicated. In 
this highest stage, three cities figure preeminently. They 
are Florence and Venice, which having plunged deep- 
est into all the problems of the early Renaissance, now 
achieved a merited perfection, and Rome, which produced 
nothing out of its own strength whatever, but had the good 
fortune, through the liberal patronage of art-loving Popes, 
to draw some of the best talent of Italy within its walls. 
Thus Raffaele, and Michel Angelo, in his capacity of 
painter, are considered the centres of the Roman school, 
although the one was an Umbrian and the other a Flor- 
entine. Lionardo da Vinci, a Florentine, and Titian, a 
Venetian, may conclude our list of supreme and repre- 
sentative names. 

Lionardo da Vinci (1452-15 19) was one of those uni- 
versal geniuses in the production of whom the Renaissance 
was so prodigal, and in the many-sidedness of his talents 



The full Re- 
naissance, 
1500-30. 



The three 
great centres, 



Lionardo da 
Vinci. 



The Italian Renaissance 



293 



Causes of his 
unproductive- 
ness. 



perhaps he excelled them all. Celebrated especially as a 
painter, he was besides proficient, sometimes even to the 
degree to rank him with the innovators and discoverers, as 
an architect, sculptor, musician, engineer, and physicist. 
And as if nature had been pleased to make in him an ideal 
man, these powers were joined to a human form of hercu- 
lean strength and divine mould. And yet few creations of 
this man's genius have come down to us. Time and fort- 
une have been particularly severe with him, and many 
works of his that once shone in splendor are now destroyed 
or marred. At the same time it must be acknowledged too 
that he was never eagerly productive. He had so much 
intellectual curiosity about the principle behind appear- 
ance, he was so conscientiously set upon dismissing noth- 
ing which was not perfect from his workshop, that he spent 
(one dare not say wasted) whole months in following some 
curious speculation or studying some elaborate effect. 

Lionardo was an illegitimate child. He was put to 
study with Verrocchio. Still a young man he was drawn His life, 
to the brilliant court of Milan. Later we find him in the 
employ of Caesar Borgia, whom he served as engineer, then 
at Rome and at various places, and, finally in France, 
where he died, nobly provided for by that truly royal mon- 
arch, Francis I. 

The Louvre at Paris has the best of his easel pictures — 
the Mona Lisa (or La Gioconda) and a Holy Family; more 
than one critic has ventured to assign to the former the 
first place in its class as '' the portrait of portraits." His His works. 
Last Supper at Milan has been more often reproduced than 
any other composition of the Renaissance. Of Lionardo's 
school at Milan, Luini (d. 1533) is the most famous name. 
At Florence many artists took their clue from him, notably His followers, 
Fra Bartolommeo (d. 15 17), whose paintings are especially 
celebrated for their architectonic beauties, and, indirectly, 



294 ^ Short History of Mcdiceval Europe 



Michel Ange- 
lo as painter. 



The Sistine 
Chapel. 



The Last 
Judgment. 



Raffaelle. 



Andrea del Sarto (d. 1531), who might have rivalled Raf- 
faelle but that he wanted Raffaelle' s soul. 

That Michel Angelo became a painter is owing to an ac- 
cident. He was in the employ of the Pope and the Pope 
commanded him to paint. He was assigned the ceiling of 
the Sistine Chapel, the walls of which were already covered 
with the works of Umbrian and Florentine masters, and 
though he prayed that he be allowed to continue the sculpt- 
ures for the tomb of the Pope, Julius II. was obdurate. 
The labor lasted from 1508 to 1512, and for its magnitude 
alone is an almost incredible production. Around the bor- 
der runs a wreath of twelve sibyls and prophets. The long 
space in the middle is divided into rectangular compart- 
ments and filled with representations (nine in number) from 
the Old Testament (Acts of Creation, the Fall, etc.). The 
lunettes over the windows are adorned with Old Testament 
family groups, and the numerous spaces between the archi- 
tectural framework are filled with a whole world of decora- 
tive figures. The contemporaries immediately accorded 
this monumental achievement that enthusiastic tribute of 
praise which no succeeding generation has refused. The 
beings which Michel Angelo portrayed upon the Sistine 
ceiling are without a model. They are, in the boldest 
sense of the word, the titanic children of his titanic mind. 
All that was ungovernable and superhuman in this mys- 
terious soul is recorded there. Later (1534-41) he paint- 
ed upon the back wall of the chapel the Last Judgment. 
Christ is enthroned above. The graves have opened and 
the saved are floating up to heaven on one side, while on 
the other, the servants of Lucifer are reaching for their 
prey. It is a vast composition, perhaps too vast, and is 
therefore more successful in its details than in its general 
effect. 

Raffaelle (1485-15 20) probably represents to the major- 



TJlc Italian Renaissance 295 



ity of our generation the essence of the Renaissance. Un- 
doubtedly he was its most mellow product. If Lionardo 
was more magical in his effects, and Michel Angelo more 
titanic, Raffaelle was more eminently human by his fuller 
comprehension of the range of human feelings. Living 
closely in contact with mankind, he was enabled to create a 
world of men and women among whom we move with ease 
and delight, Raffaelle was born at Urbino, in Umbria. 
His father, himself a painter of some renown, died before 
the son was ready to receive instruction. At about the 
age of fifteen the boy was bound as apprentice to Peru- His life, 
gino at Perugia. In 1504 he removed to Florence, and 
thence he passed in 1508, upon the call of the Pope, to 
Rome, where he resided till he died. These stages in his 
life are interesting. Each contributed an important ele- 
ment to his completion. From Perugino he took what His develop- 
was serious and honest in the religion of the Umbrian 
school, in Florence he came under the influence of the 
realistic movement with its accumulated experiences of a 
hundred years, and at Rome the grandeur of the city lent 
his work its monumental character. Every healthy art- 
impulse which he encountered was welcomed and assimi- 
lated to his nature. Nothing undid him, nothing destroyed 
that splendid harmony of his faculties, which gives him 
his inimitable joyousness and freedom. 

Raffaelle was an astonishingly fertile artist. The works His best- 
by which he is best known are the various Madonnas and 
the Vatican frescoes. 

His Madonna-ideal differs greatly from that of his prede- His Madon- 
cessors. He does not give us the handmaiden of the Lord, 
spirit-crushed with present or expected burdens, but typical 
women rather, who have no necessary connection with the 
thread of Christian story. Two kinds of madonnas pre- Two ideals. 
vail ; the one is the human mother, the other the heavenly 



the Vatican. 



296 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 

queen. Very excellent representatives of the two classes 
are the Madonnas of the Chair (Florence) and the Sistine 
Madonna (Dresden). The former shows us a Roman 
woman such as Raffaelle must have encountered often in 
his daily walks. There is no attempt made to spiritualize 
her ; she is the happy and goodly human mother of the 
round child which she holds in her lap. This conception 
is strengthened by the local Roman costume in which the 
Madonna is presented. The Sistine Madonna, on the other 
hand, is the expression of another ideal. She has nothing 
of the earth, she is the Lady of Heaven, and as she floats 
along upon clouds, with the Son of God upon her arm, 
she bids the troubles of earth cease and mankind fall upon 
its knees and worship. 
Frescoes of The frescoes of the Vatican, the residence of the Popes, 

rank with those of Michel Angelo in the Sistine Chapel as 
the most splendid monuments of the Renaissance. They 
represent a colossal labor, the walls and ceilings of four 
large rooms being covered with allegorical and historical 
scenes. The most celebrated allegories are the Dispute 
and the School of Athens. In the former Raffaelle gave 
his conception of the nature and ends of theology, and in 
the latter of the nature and ends of philosophy. The world 
has never ceased expressing its admiration at the way in 
which these pure abstractions have been rendered into liv- 
ing and pictorial images. The best of the historical 
scenes is the expulsion of the Syrian general Heliodorus 
from the temple at Jerusalem. The composition is mas- 
terly. Three stages of the story are brought before our 
eyes within the same frame, the danger of the Church, the 
punishment of the robber, and the triumph, but a single 
glance suffices to harmonize these elements into a whole of 
incomparable impressiveness. 

Titian (1477-1576) is the most representative name of 



The Italian Renaissance 297 

the Venetian school. Perhaps no other painter has carried Titian and 
the art of portraiture to so great a perfection. Besides, lie netianT ^' 
produced a great number of biblical scenes and Holy 
Families, all alike distinguished by the rare Venetian color- 
harmony, but lacking perhaps in spiritual seriousness. 
Titian was a mundane artist, though a very noble one. 
The School of Venice preserved itself longest from the late 
Renaissance infection, and such capable artists as Tintoret- 
to (1519-94) and Veronese (1528-86) continued their far- 
shining labors well into the modern era. 

It was worth our while to study the movement of the 
Italian Renaissance so much in detail, because, as has Importance of 
already been made clear during its gradual development, naissance. 
the thought-content of the Middle Age was destroyed and 
a new thought-content grew up in its place. The new aims 
and ideals of the Renaissance form the foundation of our 
modern period. To Italy belongs the honor of having sup- it lays the 
ported the better part of the labor of this intellectual revo- the modem 
lution. Primarily, of course, she struggled for herself, but 
by the nature of her connection with Europe, her efforts 
turned to the benefit of the civilized world as well. That 
during the progress of the evolution she gave expression to 
her new ambitions in the creation of a noble and enduring 
art, is, from the point of view of the philosophy of history, 
only incidental to the central fact, the widening of civiliza- 
tion. From Italy the movement of liberation spread across 
the Alps, and we have in the sixteenth century, in all the 
northern countries, in France, Germany, and England, a 
French, German, and English Renaissance, all of which, 
although exhibiting national modifications in each case, un- 
mistakably proclaim their derivation from the south. Even 
the German Reformation, with which Modern History be- 
gins, is only the liberating movement of the Renaissance as 
it manifested itself under the altered conditions of the north. 



era. 



298 A Short History of Mediceval Europe 



The Renais- 
sance not only 
an intellectual 
and artistic 
movement. 



Expansion of 
industry and 
commerce. 



Age of discov- 
eries. 



Inventions. 
Gunpowder. 

Printing. 



So the Italian Renaissance tolled the death-knell of the 
old order. We have largely confined our attention to its 
intellectual and aesthetic aspects. But it is interesting to 
follow out the consequences of the mental revolution for 
the dependent and ramified departments of human labor. 
We have already shown that the beginnings of the Renais- 
sance were accompanied by an expansion of commerce 
and industry. This movement continued uninterruptedly, 
new resources being gradually developed and new territories 
being constantly drawn into the circle of international 
intercourse. There followed as a natural consequence the 
Age of Discoveries, culminating in the discovery of America 
(1492), by which the contemporary widening of the men- 
tal horizon was supplemented by a fortunate widening of 
the physical world. A large number of practical inven- 
tions, made about the same time, contributed their share to 
the overthrow of mediaeval conditions. Gunpowder (invent- 
ed during the fourteenth, but not used generally until the 
fifteenth century) put an end to the military superiority of 
the mounted nobility, while printing, which began to mul- 
tiply books during the fifteenth century, destroyed the 
monopoly of learning hitherto maintained by the universi- 
ties. By these changes mankind had put itself, practically 
and theoretically, upon a different basis and was prepared 
to enter upon a new stage of its existence. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Aachen, 85 

Abbassides, 191 

Abelard, 152, 172, 201 

Abu Bekr, 186, 191 

Acco, siege of, 203 ; taken by Mo- 
hammedans, 206 

Adrianople, battle of, 24 

Adelaide, 87 

Adolf of Nassau, 262 

Aelfred the Great, 96-98 

Aethelstan, 98 

Aethelberht, King of Kent, 41 

Aethelred the Redeless, 99, 100 

Aethelwulf, 96 

Aetius, 30 ; defeats Attila, 31 

Agincourt, battle of, 245 

Alamanni, 30, 52 

Alani, 26, 28 

Alaric, 25-27 ; sacks Rome, 26 

Anastasius, 43 

Alberic, 89/ 

Alberti, 282 

Albigenses, 165, 166, 230 

Alcuin, 63 

Alexander II., 106, 140, 141 

Alexander III., 158/.; 160/. 

Alexander V. , 274 

Alexander VI., 228 

Alexius, 197 

Albornoz wins Papal States, 227 

Ali Khalif. 186, 191 

Angles, 21 

Anglo-Saxons, 37 ff. ; missionaries, 
132 

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 98 

Almorovides, 2537^ 

Andrew of Longjumeau, 211 



Angelico, Fra, 290 

Angelo, Michel, 283, 287/. / Sistine 
Chapel, 294 

Anselm, 106 

Antioch, 130, 198, 206 

Arabic Civilization, ig'zff. ; civiliza- 
tion destroyed, 195 

Arabs, 185, 190 

Arcadius, 33 

Architecture, Arabic, 192 ; of Mid- 
dle Age, 277, 280/ 

Arianism, 47 

Aristotle, 193 

Arnold of Brescia, 152 jf. / 201 

Arnold of Winkelried, 265 

Arnulf, Crowned, 74 ; acknowledged 
Emperor, 82 

Art, Byzantine, 45 ; of Middle Age, 
277 ; Italian, 280^. 

Assize of Clarendon, 240 

Athaulf, 27/ 

Athanasius, 178 

Athanarich, 24 

Athens, University of, 45/ 

Attila, 31/ 

Augustine, St., 41, 178 

Austrasia, 53, 54 

Austria, 261 

Avars, 49, 56 

Avignon, 227, 234 ; Curia removed 
to, 272 

Bagdad, seat of Khahfate, 191 
Baldwin I., 196, 199/ 
Bannockburn, battle of, 243 
Bartolommeo, Fra, 293 

Bavaria, 52, 55 



301 



302 



Index 



Bavarians, 49 

Bede, 42, 98 

Bedford, Duke of, 245/ 

Begging Friars, 171 

Beket, Thomas. 241 

Belgium, 255 

Belisarius, 30, 48 

Bellini, Jacopo, Gentile, Giovanni, 

291/ 
Benedict II., 271 
Benedict of Nursia, 178/. 
Benedictine Rule, 179/. 
Benevento, Duchy of, 50, 87 
Beowulf, 38 
Berengar of Friuli, 74 
Bernhard of Clairvaux, 149, 201 
Bertha of Kent, 41 
Besangon episode, 154 
Bishoprics, established by Karl the 

Great, 56; by Otto I., 87 
Black Prince. 244/". 
Blanche of Castile, 231 
Boccaccio, 279 

Boemund, 112, 196/, 198, 199, 200 
Boethius, 35, 193 ; translated, 98 
Bohemia, 56, 87, 263, 266-267 
Boniface, 29, 133, 134/-. i79 
Boniface VIII,, 234, 270 
Boso, 74 

Bosworth, battle of, 251 
Botticelli, Sandro, 290, 291 
Bouvines, battle of, 167, 230 
Bramante, 282/ 
Bretigny, Treaty of, 245 
Britain, 37 
Bruce, David, 244 
Brunellesco, 281/, 285 
Brunhilda, 53 
Bulgarians, 49 

Burgundy, 52, 74, 92, 256, 267 
Burgundians, ^Pf. 

Caedmon, 38 
Cairo, 192, 193 
Cnnossa, 146 
Capetian dynasty, 78 



Caracalla, 10 

Cardinals, 139 ; College of, 140 

Cassiodorus, 35, 179 

Catalaunian Fields, 31 

Charles of Anjou, 173 

Charles the Bald, -joff. 

Charles the Bold, 252, 256, 267 

Charles the Simple, 73, 74, 75, 76 

Charles IV. of Bohemia, 263 

Charles V. , Emperor, 256, 268 

Charles VI., 245 

Charles VII., 245/". 

Charles VIII. invades Italy, 228, 252 

Chivalry, 125, 126 

Childeric, 36 

Chioggia, battle of, 225 

Chlodwig, 28, 36, 52 

Christianity, legalized, 20/, ; in Ire- 
land, 39, 40 ; in England, 40 ff. ; 
in Hungary, 257 /. ; in Poland, 
258/. 

Church, friendly to Empire, 19 ; 
under Gratian, 21 ; Constantine 
and, 20 ; under Justinian, 45 ; in 
England, 41 ; and Chlodwig, 52 ; 
under Karl the Great, 55, 65 ; un- 
der Otto I., 86; under Henry III., 
93/; and Feudalism, 118, 127; 
organization, 129 ; Conquest of the 
West, 134 ; worldliness of, 176 ; 
and Louis IX., 233; and Wyclif, 
249 ; in Middle Age, 276 

Cities, 124 ; growth of, 212 ; in 
France, 214/!, 221 ; in England, 
215/ ; in Germany, 216 ; charters 
of, 218; government of, 219; in 
Netherlands, 255/ ; in Germany, 
265/ ; in Italy, 223/., 278 
Clarendon, Constitutions of, 240 
Classification, Philological, Ethno- 
logical, 19 
Clement III., 160, 161 
Clement V., 234 ; at Avignon, 272 
Clergy, 127 ; celibacy of, 147 ; regu- 
lar and secular, 180 
Clermont, first crusade, 196 



Index 



303 



Cluniac reforms, 89, 93, 94, 137, 180, 

i8x 
Columba, St., 40 
Commerce and industry, 208/, 213, 

255 

Conrad I., 83 

Conrad JL, 92/ 

Conrad III., 150, 201 

Conrad IV., 171, 1727^ 

Conradino, 173 

Constance of Sicily, 160 

Constance, Treaty of, 159 

Constantine and the Church, 20/ ; 
and the Goths, 23 

Cortenuova, battle of, 169 

Cosenza, 26 

Council, of Nicaea, 65, 131 ; of 
Altheim, 83 ; of Sutri, 93 ; of Sar- 
dica, 131 ; of Constantinople, 131 ; 
of Chalcedon, 131 ; of Pavia, 137 ; 
of Worms, 143 f. ; of Piacenza, 
148 ; of Clermont, 148, 196 ; of 
Constance, 227, 266, 274 ; of Clar- 
endon, 239 ; of Pisa, 274 • of Basel, 
274 

Crt^cy, battle of, 244 

Crusade, Frederick Barbarossa, 160; 
first, 196 ff. ; second, 200, 202 ; 
third, 202 f, ; of Henry VI., 203 ; 
fourth, 203; Children's, 205; last, 
205, 206; a failure, 106 ff. 

Crusaders, 196/, / motives of, 197 ; 
take Antioch, 198 

Crusades, preached by Urban, 148 ; 
effect of, 208 jf: 

Curiales, 13, 14 

Curia Regis, 239 

Cuthbert, St., 40 

Cycles of Legends, 209 

Cyprus, 203, 206 

Dagobert, 64 
Damascus, 191 
Danelaw, 97 
Danes, 16, 96, 97, 99^^ 
Decius, 20 



Denmark, 256 
Desiderius, 55 

Diocletian's reform, 11/. / 20 
Dionysius Exiguus, 132 
Domesday Book, 238 
Dominicans, 182 
Dominic, St., 182 
Donatello, 284, 285/. 
Donation of Constantine, 280 
Do-Nothing Kings, 54 
Dunstan, 99 

Eadgar Atheling, 107 

Eadmund, 96, 98 

Eadmund, Ironside, 100 

Edward the Elder, 98 

Edward the Confessor, 100 

Edward I., 243 

Edward II., 243 

Edward III., 243 ; claims French 

Crown, 237/ ; 244/ 
Edward IV. and V., 250/. 
Ecgberht, 38, 95, 96 
Edessa, taken by Baldwin, 199; 

taken by Mohammedans, 200 
Einhard, biographer of Karl, 67 
Ekkehard, 91 
Eleanor of Aquitaine, 229 
Emma, 99, 100 
England, 37-42 ; and the Norsemen, 

95 ; under Aelfred the Great, 97 ; 

cities of, 215 ff. ; after 1070, 238 

ff. ; constitutional changes, 247 ; 

War of Roses, 250/. 
Enzio, 171, 173 
Eric, 257 
Esthonians, i?>/. 
Eudoxia, 29 
Europe, physical character of, 6, 7, 8 

Fatimites, 192 

Feudal, armies, 120 ; dues, 120/ ; 

justice, 122 ; society, 122 ; castles, 

126 
Feudalism in France and Germany, 

81 ; defined, 114 ; origin of, 118 ; 



304 



Index 



and the Church, ii8 ; terms, ii8; 
and serfs, 123 ; and citizens, 124 ; 
chivalry, 126 ; clergy, 127 ; decay 
of, 128 

Fief, 118 

Finnic-Turkish tribes, 18/ 

Florence, 226, 227 ; and the Renais- 
sance, 280 ; Cathedral of, 282 ; art 
in, 292 

France, beginning of, 71 ; cities of, 
214 ff., 221 ; after 1108, 229 ff. ; 
English wars with, 244 ff. ; army 
of, 252 ; unification of, 252 

Francesca, 291 

Francis, St., of Assisi, 181/. 

Franciscans, 181/., 272 

Franks, i6 ; divisions of, 36 ; and 
West Goths, 28 ; conquer Ala- 
manni, 30; Burgundians, 31 ; King- 
dom divided, 52 

Fredegonda, 53 

Frederick I., 150, 151 ; and Hadrian 
IV., 1537^ ; in Lombardy, 156/". ; 
crowned Emperor, 158 ; at Leg- 
nano, 159 ; crusade, 160, 202 ; and 
cities, 223 

Frederick II., 163, 164; crowned, 
167 ; and the Papacy, 168, iSgff.; 
in Sicily, 169 ; character of, 172 ; 
on crusade, 205, 230 

Friesians, 37 

Gaul, invasions of barbarians, 26, 

27. 31 
Gefolge, 16/, 116 
Geiseric, 29 
Genoa, 225 
Gepidae, 37 
Gerbert, 92, 193 
Germans, 15, 16, 17; reaction 

against, 43/. ; Christianized, 133 
German, Order of Knights, 184 ; 

language, 19 
Germany, 60, 71 ; expansion of, 87 ; 

under Hohenstanfen, 150 - 173 ; 

after struggle with Papacy, 174/ ; 



conquests, 184; Great interreg- 
num in, 261 ; cities of, 216, 265 

Ghengis Khan, 191 

GhibelUnes, 150, 159, 224 

Ghiberti, Lorenzo, 284, 285 

Ghirlandajo, 287, 290 

Giotto, 28 

Godfrey of Boulogne, 196, 200 

Godwin, Earl, 101 

Golden Bull, 263 

Goths, Divisions of, 22^. ; at Coun- 
cil of Nicsea, 23 ; development of 
kingship, 23 

Goths, East, conquered by Huns, 
24; invade Italy, 25; second in- 
vasion, 34 ; Kingdom destroyed, 
36 

Goths, West, 24, 25, 27, 28, 52 

Gratian and the Church, 21, 24 

Gregory the Great, 41, 179 

Gregory II., 135, 136 

Gregory VII., 80, iii, 112, 137, 141- 
148 ; results of his work, 147, 181, 
201 

Gregory IX. , 168, 170 

Gregory X,, 206 

Gregory XL, 273 

Grimoald, 54 

Guelfs, 150, 159, 162, 224 

Guido of Spoleto, 74 

Guilds, 213, 218, 221, 265 

Gundobad, 30 

Gunhild, 100 

Guthrum, 97 

Haco VI. , 257 
Hadrian, 66 
Hadrian IV. , 153-158 
Hapsburgs, 256, 261/. ; 264, 267 /C 
Harold, elected King of England, 

102 ; and WiUiam, loSf. 
Hegira, 187 
Heliand, 91 
Henry I. of France, 80 
Henry T. of Germany, 83, 84 
Henry I. of England, 238^^ 



Index 



305 



Henry II. of Germany, 92 

Henry II. of England, 133, 239/". ; 
and Beket, 241 

Henry III. of Germany, 93 /, 117 ; 
and Papacy, 137; d., 138 

Henry III, of England, 242^^ 

Henry IV. of Germany, 94, iii, 112, 
139, 140-143 ; struggle with Greg- 
ory VII., 144-147 ; last yrs., 148 

Henry IV. of England, 245 

Henry V. of Germany, 148-149 

Henry V. of England, 245, 250 

Henry VI. of Germany, 160, 161/, 
203 

Henry VI. of England, 245, 250 

Henry VII. of Germany, 262 

Henry VII. of England, 251 

Henry the Lion, 150, 151, 159/., 161, 
162 

Hermits, 177 

Herulians, 37 

Hildebrand, 138, 139, 140 ; Pope, 
141 ; strengthens Papacy, 142-143 

Hohenzollern, 266 

Holland, 255 

Honorius, 33 

Honorius III. , 168 

House of Commons, beginning of, 
243 ; separated from House of 
Lords, 247 

Hugo Capet, 76-79 

Hundred Years' War, 243^. 

Hungary, 86, 87, 257/, 267 

Hunneric, 29/". 

Huns, 19, 24, 31, 32, 84, 85 

Huss, John, 258 ; burned, 266 

lUyria, 25 

Innocent II., 149/ 

Innocent III., 161; his pohcy, 163, 

165 ; and Otto IV. , 164 ; his pon 

tificate, 166/"., 203, 242 
Innocent IV., 170, 171, 172 ff., 269 
Interregnum in Germany, 174, 261 
lolanthe, 168 
tona, Isle of, 40 



Ireland, 39/, 241 

Irene, Empress, 57, 58 ; calls Coun- 
cil of Nicgea, 65/. 

Irish missionaries, 133 

Isabella, 254 

Italy, in time of Otto I. , 87/ ; and 
Normans, 110-113 ; before 1494, 
223 ; various powers in, 224 ; hope- 
lessly divided, 269 ; Renaissance, 
276/: 

Ivan III., 260 

Jeanne D'Arc, 246 

Jerome, St., 178 

Jerusalem, 130 ; taken by Crusaders, 

199 ; lost, 202 ; taken by Turks, 

205 
John of England, 165, 241/ 
John X., 89 
John XI. , 89 
John XII., 90 
Jubilee of 1300, 271 
Justin I., 43 
Justin II., 50 
Justinian, 30, 36, 43-48 
Jutes, 37 

Karlings, origin of, 54 ; last of, 78 

Karl the Great, 55-67 ; as law-giver 
and builder, 63 ; his attitude tow- 
ard learning, 63 ; toward the 
Church, 65 /. ; and Ecgberht, 
95 ; and feudahsm, 115, 116 ; his 
military system, 119; and the 
Papacy, 136 ; and the cities, 213 

Karl the" Fat, 73/. 

Karl Martel, 54/., 133, 136 

Kelts, 14, 15, 37 

Kerbogha, 198/ 

Khalifs, 191, 253 

Knights of St. John, 184, 206 

Knights Templars, 184, 234, 272 

Knights, German Order of, 208 

Knut, 100, 256 

Koran, 189 



3o6 



Index 



Lanfranc, io6 


Mantegna, 291 


Langton, Stephen, 165, 242 


Marco Polo, 211 


Lateran Council, 165 


Marozia, 89 


Laws, Anglo-Saxon, 38, 98 ; codi- 


Mary of Burgundy, 256 


fication of Roman, 44 


Masaccio, 289 


Leagues, Rhenish, 261, 263; Sua- 


Mathematics, 193/ 


bian, 265 ; Hanseatic, 265/ 


Matilda of England, 239 


Legnano, battle of, 159, 223 


Matilda of Scotland, 239 


Leo the Great, 32, 131, 132, 136 


Matilda of Tuscany, 144 


Leo III., 57, 66,69, 135 


Maximilian of Austria, 256 


Leo IX., Ill, 137 


Mayfields, 61 


Leofric of Mercia, loi, loa 


Mecca, 185, 188 


Letts, 18, 175 


Medici, 226/; Lorenzo de', 227; 


Lindisfarne, 40 


favor art, 280 


Lippi, Fra Filippo, 290 


Merovingian Kings, 55 


Literature, of Middle Ages, 277, 279, 


Migrations, causes of, 22 


280 ; in England, 251 ; Arabic, 


Milan, 151 ; destroyed, 157 ; rebuilt, 


193 ; in Germany, 91 


159 ; after 1300, 224, 226, 228 ; art, 


Liutprand, 91 


293 


Lombard League, 159 


Missi Dominici, 62 


Lombards in Italy, 50/ ; and Karl, 


Missionaries, Anglo-Saxon, 132; 


55 ; and the Papacy, 135 


Irish, 40, 133 


Lombardy, 87/, 148, 224 


Mohammed, 185/ / at Medina, 187 ; 


Lothaire, 77, 78 


resorts to arms, 188 ; his character, 


Lothar, 70/ 


189/ 


Lothar the Saxon, 149 yC 


Mohammedanism, 185 /! ; Turkish, 


Lotharingia, 72, ^^ 


190 ; in Spain, 191 /. ; in Africa, 


Louis the Stammerer, t^ 


192 


Louis IV. (d'Outremer), ']^ 


Mohammedans, cross Straits of Gib- 


Louis VI., 81, 201, 229 


raltar, 286/ ; and Karl, 55, 56; 


Louis VII., 201, 229 


in Sicily, 87 ; and Venetians, 204 ; 


Louis VIII., 231 


reconquer Syria, 206; in Spain and 


Louis IX., 205/, 221, 231,2^, 237 


Portugal, 253 j^ ; in Balkan Pen- 


Louis XL, 228, 252 


insula, 260 


Luca della Robbia, 284, 286/. 


Monasticism, 176 ff. ; Benedictine 


Ludwig of Bavaria, 262/!, 272 


Rule, 179; Cluniac programme, 


Ludwig the Child, 82 


180 ; Dominicans, 182 ; Francis- 


Ludwig the German, 70 _^. 


cans, 181/ ; benefits and faults of, 


Ludwig the Pious, 69/ 


182/ ; military orders, 183/. 




Monks, 40, 42, 87 


Magdeburg, 86 


Monte Casino, monastery of, 179 


Magna Charta, 242 


Moors, 253/". 


Magyars, 19, 84/:, 175 


Morgarten, battle of, 264 


Major Domus, 53, 54 ; Karl Martel, 




54 ; Pippin, 55 


Nancy, battle of, 267 


Manfred, 172 yi 


Naples, 228, 258 ; University, 172 



Index 



307 



Narses, 50 

Netherlands, 255 

Neustria, 53, 54 

Nibelungen Lied, 30, 65 

Nicoea, Council of, 65, 131 ; siege 
of, 198 

Niccolo Pisano, 281 

Nicholas I., 136 

Nicholas II., iii, 139/ 

Noricum, 26 

Normandy, 105/ 

Normans, in England, 107-109 ; in 
Italy, 110-113 

Northmen, in West Frankland, t^' 
76; invade England, 95/; pirates, 
102 / ; character of, 103 ; in the 
East, 104 ; in the West, 105 ; in 
France, 105 

Norway, 256 

Norwegians, 16 

Odo, 74, 75 

Odovaker, and Geiseric, 29 ; ruler 

in Italy, 2)2) f- '> murdered, 35 
Olaf, 99, 257 
Omar Khalif, 186, 191 
Ommeiades, 191 
Orestes, 33/ 
Othman Khalif, 186, 191 
Otto I., 'JT, 85-90 ; importance of his 

reign, 90/ ; and the Papacy, 137 
Otto II., 92 
Otto III. , 77, 78, 92 ; and the Papacy, 

137 
Otto IV., 164, 167 

Painting in Renaissance, 288/ 
Pannonia, 24 ff. ; Attila in, 32 ; 
Lombards in, 50 ; Odovaker in, 34 
Papacy, ninth and tenth centuries, 
88-91 ; reformed by Henry III., 
93/ ; and William the Conqueror, 
109 ; and the Normans, 113 ; origin 
and growth of, 129-136; in hands 
of factions, 137; investiture of, 



138 ; struggle with Emperors, 139 ; 
under Gregory VII., 141-148; 
and Frederick Barbarossa, 154/". ; 
Concordat of Worms, 148 ; char- 
acter changed, 166 ; and Frederick 
II., 168, iSgff.; struggle with Ho- 
henstaufen, 173 ; influence of Cru- 
sades, 208 ; at Avignon, 234 ; sec- 
ularization of, 227 ; struggle with 
Ludwig, 262 ; after 1250, 269^ ; 
Schism, 272 /. ; Conciliar idea, 
274 

Parlement, 235/; 

Paschalis, 158 

Patriarch, office of, 129 

Patrick, St., 39/ 

Paulus Diaconus, 6^ 

Pavia, 50 

Persia, 48 

Perugino, 291 

Peter the Hermit, 196 

Peter of Pisa, 63 

Petrarch, 279 

Philip II. of France, 202, 229/.; 
and John, 242 

Philip II. of Spain, 256 

Philip II., Suabia, 164/, 167 

Philip III., 233/ 

Philip IV., 222, 234^; and Bon- 
iface, 270 /. ; and Clement V., 
272 

Philip v., 237 

Philip VI., 237/, 244/ 

Pippin, 54, 133 ; and the Papacy, 
136 

Placidia, 27 

Plague, 247 

Podesta, 224 

Poictiers, battle of, 244 

Poland, 258 

Pornocracy, 89 

Portugal, 253. 254/. 

Prussia, 87, 266 

Prussians, 18 

Querela, Jacopo della, 284^^ 



308 



Index 



Raffaelle, 294^ 




Sempach, 264 


Ratger, 25 




Senators, 13 


Ravenna, 33, 35, 51 




Serfs, 123 


Raymond, Count of Toulouse, 


196. 


Sicilian Vespers, 269 


199 




Sicily, under Saracens, no; under 


Reccared, 28 




Normans, 111-113; and Henry 


Renaissance, in England, 251 


; in 


IV., 162; under Frederick II., 165- 


Italy, 276, 277/; art and architect- 


172 


ure, 281^; effect of, 297 




Sigismund, 266 


Richard I., 162, 202 yC, 241 




Simon de Montfort, 165, 243 


Richard II., 245, 249 




Sixtus IV., 228 


Richard III., 250/". 




Soissons, battle of, 55, 76 


Rienzi, 227 




Slavs, 17/"., 48/; subjugated by 


Robert of France, 76 




Karl. 56; Christianized, 86, 149, 


Robert Guiscard, iii /., 139, 


147. 


175 


197 




Solyman II., 258 


Robert II., the Pious, 79/. 




Spain, 27/, 253/ 


Robert the Strong, 75 




Spoleto, so, 87 


Robert II. of Sicily, 202 




Sophia, St., church of. 44 


Roger of Sicily, 150, 202 




States-general, 235/. 


Rolf, the Norman, 76 




Stephen of Blois, 196, 239 


Roman Empire, 8-14 ; government 


Stephen VI., 69,88 


divided, 33, 34 




Stilicho, 25/ 


Rome, sacked, 26, 29 ; and Byzan- 


Suevi, 26^. 


tium, 32, 34 ; church at, 130 ; 


and 


Suger and Louis VII., 229 


Rienzi, 227 




Sweden, 256 


Romulus Augustulus, 33/ 




Swedes, 16 


Roncaglian Diet, 151, 157 




Swein of Denmark, 99/, 108 


Rudolf, 74-77 




Switzerland, 263, 267 


Rudolph of Hapsburg, 261 




Sword Brothers, 184 


Rugians, 34, ^H 




Syagrius, 52 


Rugilas, 31 




Sylvester II., 92, 193 


Rupert, 266 




Symmachus, 35 


Rurik, 104 






Russia, 260 




Tancred, 162, 197 
Tchuds, 19 


Saladin, 192, 202 




Thanes, 39 


San Germano, 169 




Theoderick the Great, 34^, 179 


Saracens in Sicily, no 




Theodora, Empress, 48 


Sarto, Andrea del, 293 




Theodora controls Papacy, 89 


Savonarola, 228 




Theodore of Tarsus, 41 


Savoy, 224 




Theodosius, 21, 24, 33 


Saxons, ^l^ 55 




Thuringia, 52 


Schism, 272/; 




Tintoretto, 297 


Scotland, 40 




Titian, 296/ 


Sculpture, 284 




Togrul Beg, 191, 196 



^^ 



bB 



-1«1 



Index 



309 



Tower of London, 108 




Verdun, Treaty of, 70 


Toulouse, 28 




Veronese, 297 


Tours, battle of, 55 




Vinci, Leonardo da, 2927^ 


Treaty of Constance, 159, 223 






Treaty of Troyes, 245 




Wales, 243 
Walia, 28 


Treaty of Verdun, 70 

Tribonian, 44 




Turanians, 18 




Wars of the Roses, 250 


Turks, 190, 191, 195, 205, 260 




Wat Tyler's Rebellion, 248 
Wedmore, Treaty of, 97 


Ulfilas, 23 

Ural-Altaic peoples, 18/. 




Whitby, Council of, 41 




Widukind, 91 


Urban II., 148, 196, 208 




William the Conqueror, 80, 101-109 , 


Urban III., 161 




and Gregory VII., 143, 147; his 


Urban VI., 273 




reign, 238 
WilHam II., 238 
William of Holland, 171 ff. 


Valens, 24 




Witenagemot, 99, 238 


Valentinian III., 29 




Worms, Council of, 143 / ; Con- 


Vandals, in Gaul, 26 ; in Africa 


, 29; 


cordat of, 148 


Kingdom destroyed, 30 




Wyclif, John, 249/ 


Vasco da Gama, 254 






Vassalage, 114 






Vatican Library, 227 ; frescoes, 


296 


Zaccharias, Pope, 55 


Venetians, 112 




Zenki, 200, 202 


Venice, 203/, 225 ; art of, 291, 


292 


Zeno, 34, 43 



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